


Hold My Heart

by Madaboutagirl



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Fix It Fic, Sanvers - Freeform, slowburn, supercat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-07
Updated: 2017-05-14
Packaged: 2018-09-22 14:18:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 40,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9611129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madaboutagirl/pseuds/Madaboutagirl
Summary: I never meant to be the one to let you downIf anything, I thought I saw myself going firstI didn't know how to stick aroundHow to see anybody but me be getting hurtHold My Heart by Sara BareillesInspired by the song Hold My Heart by Sara Bareilles and intent on being a season 2 fix it fiction. I brought Cat back because I just can't take seeing a lonely Kara looking to Mon-El as her only option while she is wearing a Power to the Girls t-shirt for godssake.





	1. Chapter 1

Kara locks the door behind him and falls back heavily against it. She hasn't felt this alone in a really long time. She pulls her phone out, tempted to call her sister, but then remembers that she was going over to Maggie's tonight. Pulling her blazer around her tightly, Kara sighs and walks over towards her window. It only takes her a few minutes to zero in on the sound, but tonight not even the sound of Cat's heartbeat is comforting. Tonight that sound is like an exclamation point on Kara's loneliness. Looking up at the stars, Kara considers flying out and around the city, or maybe even further, just to clear her head, but instead she plops down on her couch. How did everything get so screwed up, she wonders. And it's not just James, hanging up his camera and pulling this vigilante stunt and taking Winn with him, Supergirl had to rescue her nemesis. She might be new to the whole nemesis thing, but she's pretty sure that is not how it is supposed to work.

Kara takes off her jacket and heads over to change out of her dress. She pulls on her pajamas and is about to climb into bed when she hears a knock at the door and then it opens.

"Kara?" Alex calls out.

"Hey," Kara says stepping out of her bedroom. "Alex, what are you doing here. I thought you were going home with Maggie."

"I was, but I wanted to check on you first. How are you doing with everything?" Alex asks reaching out for her hand and pulling her sister down to sit on the couch beside her.

"I don't know. I mean, Winn and James won't listen to reason and I refuse to let them put themselves in danger," Kara says angrily.

"It's not your decision Kar. If they want to put themselves in danger and be heroes, than that's what they're going to do. You can't stop them, not really." Alex points out.

"Well, I don't have to work with them. And I'm not going to. It's bad enough that I have to work with Mon-El right now," Kara grumbles.

"Wait, what happened with Mon-El, I mean aside from everything that he did wrong his first time in the field," Alex asks.

"He's not doing this for the right reasons. He's got it in his head that he's in love with me, so he only wants to be a hero to protect me. He doesn't care about anyone else," Kara replies.

"Oh, that was sort of obvious. Are you just now realizing it?" Alex questions.

"No, I've been asking him and he's been denying it this whole time, but tonight he came by and told me the truth finally," she says sadly.

"Kara," Alex murmurs wrapping an arm around her sister. "Kara it's going to be okay."

"Maybe for you. You have a girlfriend," she argues softly. "Winn, James, and Mon-El, they're all the same. They look at me and they think that they want to date me and I'm not sure they've ever really been my friends."

"You're wrong Kara. They love you and they are your friends. But they have their own stuff and you guys have just hit a bump, it happens. It doesn't mean that you aren't friends anymore, except maybe for Mon-El, I think he's just really wanted in your pants this whole time," Alex jokes.

"Is it so wrong that I want what you have with Maggie. I want someone to get me, really get me." Kara says looking away from her sister to hide her tears.

"Hey, hey, you will have that. You just haven't met the right person yet," Alex says cupping her chin and turning her face back towards her own.

"What if I already met them and I've missed out on it?" Kara asks pulling her face out of her sister's hand and blinking back the tears.

"Well, if you already met them and it didn't happen, then the timing was wrong. If it's meant to be, then you'll get another chance with them, that's how it works," Alex promises.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Waking up early the next morning, Kara reaches over and grabs her phone off the table, surprised to see that she has a missed call and a message.

_Ms Grant: Call me ASAP._

Oh great, Ms Grant must have heard about Livewire and she's calling to yell at her. Kara sets the phone back on the table, she is not in the mood to handle a pissed off Cat Grant. Instead, she heads into the kitchen to make coffee, because even though caffeine doesn't affect her, the process of making coffee helps her wake up.

While she is waiting for it to brew her phone rings again. She can tell by the ringtone that it's Ms Grant calling again. Even if she no longer works for the woman, Kara knows ignoring the call will only make things worse.

"Hello," she says hesitantly answering the call.

"Kara?" Cat questions.

"Yes, Ms Grant. It's, um, it's really early what can I do for you?" Kara says as impatiently as she dares.

"James Olsen emailed his resignation last night. What the hell is happening in National City?" Cat asks abruptly.

"James resigned," Kara repeats heavily. She didn't expect him to do that.

"Yes, are you saying that you didn't know about it?" Cat asks.

"No, he didn't tell me. Um, d-did he tell you why?" Kara inquires.

"He said some nonsense about his heart not being in Journalism any more and that he wasn't the right person to run CATCO," Cat replies annoyed.

"Well at least he's finally being honest about something," Kara remarks sharply.

Cat flinches at comment.

"Kara, what is going on? You sound exhausted and you are snappish. In three years, I haven't known you to be either of those things," Cat points out.

"It's just ...Ms Grant... James and I had a serious disagreement this week, but trust me when I say that his resignation was the right thing to do. He's not thinking clearly right now and he shouldn't be running CATCO," Kara counters.

Cat can't believe what she is hearing.

"What kind of disagreement? Are you two dating again?" Cat questions.

"No, nothing like that, it wasn't a personal disagreement exactly," Kara quickly refutes, but then realizes that it kind of was personal.

"Kara, are you okay?" Cat asks and the girl is surprised at the concern in her voice.

"I'll be fine, I just woke up," Kara explains..

"I'll be back at CATCO tomorrow to try to talk some sense into Mr Olsen. Why don't we plan on dinner at my penthouse, it sounds like we have a lot to discuss," Cat suggests.

"O-okay," Kara answers pleased to have Cat coming back to town.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kara stops at the DEO later that day to meet Alex for lunch.

"Hey, how are you?" Alex asks when Kara approaches her in the lab.

"I'm great. So James resigned from CATCO and Ms Grant is coming back tomorrow," Kara replies brightly.

Alex stops what she's doing and considers Kara for a moment. Last night she was depressed and sullen and now she's back to her usual sunny self. She can't help but wonder if the change is due to James leaving or Cat coming back.

"Um hey about tomorrow, I know that we usually have dinner together on your birthday, but Maggie didn't know and well, would you mind if we celebrate on another night?" Alex asks worriedly.

Kara look stunned and now Alex regrets even asking. "Nevermind, I'll just tell her and we'll celebrate like we always do," she blurts out.

"No, Alex. No, it's fine. I actually have other plans tomorrow," Kara replies reassuring her sister and not admitting that with everything that's been going on lately, she actually forgot that her earth birthday was tomorrow.

"Are you sure?" Alex questions, because now she's really worried. Just last night, Kara was sad and lonely, and now she's seems more than fine.

"Yeah, I'm positive. Ms Grant invited me over for dinner tomorrow so that we could catch up," Kara informs her sister.

"Oh Kara, a work dinner isn't a birthday celebration. Tell her that you need to reschedule," Alex protests.

"It's not a work dinner, I don't work for her any more," Kara reminds her sister.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cat is on her plane heading back to National City and reviewing her calendar. She's sent Ms Teschmacher several things to do and reschedule for her. It is nice to have an assistant again. But then she notices the pop up on her personal calendar. She can't think of what it could be, so she opens it and a small gasp escapes her lips. Tomorrow is Kara Danvers' birthday. Well, Kara must have forgotten this morning and she'll probably call to reschedule it, Cat thinks. Although, maybe she should get her a small gift, the girl did sound out of sorts this morning. Cat sends a quick note to her personal shopper Leanne, telling her exactly what to get and where to get it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Across town, J'onn is hanging out in the alley behind the alien bar disguised as a homeless man when M'Gann comes out with some boxes.

"I know that you are following me, so are you just checking up on me or waiting for me to make a mistake and take me back in?" She asks a bit annoyed and worried.

The man transforms into J'onn and replies, "You said the white martians were coming. I work for the DEO, it's my job to protect against them."

"I said that they were coming, J'onn. They aren't here yet," she snaps, worried that he is putting himself in danger for her, when there really isn't anything he can do. He's no better match for them than she is.

But just then one lands in the alley and J'onn springs to action and attacks it. M'gann transforms into a green martian quickly and jumps in to help, but they're both over matched and are flung into the wall. Then all of the sudden two bright lasers hit the white martian clearly in the chest.

"Mind if I cut in," Supergirl quips as she launches her own attack on the intruder.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at the DEO, they are all discussing the situation with M'gann, when Supergirl looks up and notices M'gann coming down the stairs, which isn't possible since they've been talking to her for several minutes. "Guys," she says loudly moving in front of them quickly to protect them.

"J'onn, I was thinking... wait, oh my god,"M'gann exclaims realizing that that white martian is standing right beside J'onn, disguised as her.

"Wait, how are you there and here," Winn blurts out confused as Alex pulls her weapon and aims it at the M'gann standing beside her, while Agent Demos pulls his weapon out and points it at the other M'gann.

"You greens never learn," the first M'gann snarls and J'onn reacts immediately grabbing her and launching them both into the wall.

But as soon as they land, he's alone and the white martian is gone. J'onn jumps up to his feet.

"Oh my god, it could be any one of us," Winn points out.

"Lock it down, Vasquez," J'onn yells out.

"Lock down mode? J'onn that's a bit extreme isn't it?" Alex asks. Which causes everyone to turn and point their weapons at her.

"You're locking us all in here with that... thing?" Winn blurts out.

"It's the only way, we have to trap it in here with us," J'onn explains.


	2. Two

He pulls up in front of his building on his motorcycle, but there is a Town Car parked across the entrance to the parking garage. Parking the bike on the street, he climbs off and walks over to it. He knocks on the driver's window, but it is one of the passenger windows that lowers.

Annoyed, he moves to the opening window. "Hey, you are blocking the garage entrance," he grumbles.

"Let me guess, you have resigned from CATCO because you have been cast in the next Mission Impossible movie?" Cat quips shaking her head at the sight of the CEO of CATCO dressed in full motorcycle regalia.

"Ms Grant?" James' squeaks in surprise.

"We need to talk," she says firmly. "Get in, unless you want to do this standing in the street."

"Just give me a minute to put up my bike," he says settling down from the initial shock of seeing her.

"We'll circle the block. You have five minutes," Cat states before sitting back and closing the window.

James swallows hard as he watches the black car move out of his way. Good thing that he stores his other bike and Guardian gear elsewhere, he thinks as he heads back to his bike.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Steven, take the 101 towards Ventura, the usual route that we take when I need time," Cat says leaning forward to give the driver directions, before rolling up the window between them and turning back to her guest.

"I would ask if you're having a midlife crisis but you are much to young for that, so what the hell is going on Mr Olsen?"

"As I stated in my resignation email, I appreciate the opportunity Ms Grant, but running CATCO is not what I want any longer," he says practically repeating the email word for word.

"I read the email Olsen, now tell me what is really going on," Cat snaps angrily. "You are a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer, you've won multiple awards in Journalism and Print Media, do you honestly expect me to believe that you are walking away from all that plus the opportunity to run my empire?"

"My priorities have changed," James states simply.

"Well that is obvious," Cat quips crossing her arms angrily.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Okay, so we just need to ask each other personal questions," Winn exclaims as they all stand around the center console at the DEO Control center. Hands in view and all weapons put away.

"They can read minds Agent Schott," J'onn reminds him.

"What are you looking at?" Agent Demos asks loudly staring at Agent Vasquez.

"What?" Vasquez retorts and glances from side to side.

He takes a step back and pulls his weapon and points it at her.

Vasquez pulls her own weapon, "I wasn't looking at him!" She exclaims.

Alex pulls her own weapon in response and yells, "Agents! Stand down!"

"She's the white martian," Demos retorts still pointing his gun, he turns slightly towards Alex.

Supergirl slides in front of her sister, "You really need to put that away," she says calmly.

For a tense moment, they each glare at each other trying to figure out who isn't themselves and who is a white martian.

"J'onn, you can read minds. Can't you scan us and find the white martian?" Kara asks.

J'onn looks around the group and concentrates for a moment.

"No, I can't there is some sort of psychic interference," he grumbles.

"Look, he's after me. I'll just turn myself in," M'gann suggests.

"Great idea," Winn blurts out.

"NO" J'onn retorts.

"That is not how we do things," Supergirl interjects.

"But you don't understand, this isn't just any white martian. It's Armek, he was my mate," M'gann explains.

"Mate? You mean your husband," Alex clarifies.

"Yes, but it's not the same for martians, we were bonded. It was an arrangement." M'gann adds.

"It doesn't matter. What does matter is that we figure out who it is and we end this," J'onn bellows.

"Okay, well first things first," Alex states moving towards Demos and Vasquez. "I am going to collect everyone's weapons."

"Are you crazy?" Vasquez blurts out swinging around to aim her weapon at the senior agent.

Around the table everyone overreacts and begins yelling at each other.

Supergirl tries to reign them in by talking calmly.

"Alright! That's enough!" J'onn yells louder than anyone and they all stop talking.

"I know how to find the martian," he states in his normal voice. "Follow me," J'onn adds glaring at them all until they walk towards him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They stand around the lab table and watch J'onn light the bunsen burner and turn it up until the flame flickers fully.

"During the war with the white martians, my people were forced to hide in caves and tunnels. At the entrance to each, we set torches and before anyone could gain entry, they were forced to put their hand up to the flame," J'onn explains.

"Why? What did the fire do?" Supergirl questions, moving to stand directly opposite the flame.

"This," M'gann says stepping up to the flame and holding her hand near it. The outer layer of skin disappears and everyone can see that she is a white martian underneath.

"Okay, so who's first?" Winn asks.

"Vasquez should be first, since she was so quick to say that she's not the white martian," Agent Demos suggests.

"Because I'm not, you moron," Vasquez quips, but she steps up to the flame and holds her hand to it, flinching at the heat.

Supergirl nods and the agent steps away.

"Now him," Vasquez says nodding over to Demos to go next.

Demos steps up and he too passes the test.

"J'onn, you okay?" M'gann questions.

"He's not doing it," Demos states alarmed.

M'gann speaks calmly to him in their language and he takes a breath and steps up. It takes another moment before he can do it, but when he does, it proves that he is himself, a green martian.

Relief spreads around the table. Until all eyes land on Alex and Winn.

"Winn, you're up," Supergirl prompts her friend.

"Kara, it's me," he replies.

"Everyone has to do it," the hero states clearly nodding towards the flame.

"Okay," Winn says stepping up to it. His hand immediately morphs into a white martian hand and he grabs the burner. "You got me," he says flashing an evil grin before shoving over the lab table knocking everyone down and attacking J'onn, waving the flame in his face.

Supergirl blows freeze breath at the burner, freezing the martian's hand and putting out the flame.

J'onn takes advantage and fights back, Supergirl scrambles to help but the martian, still disguised as Winn, is strong. He shoves her away again and escapes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Home now, Steven." Cat says in disgust as she watches James cross the street and enter his building without looking back.

Pulling her phone out of her purse, she checks her messages. She thought Kara would have realized what tomorrow is and cancelled their dinner plans by now. Cat sighs, thinking about her conversation with Kara this morning and makes a decision. If they are going to have dinner together on the other woman's birthday, then Cat is going to at least acknowledge it. She sends a message to her private caterer asking her to put together a simple dinner for two complete with a small birthday cake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vasquez and Demos return from the armory with bigger weapons. They join the others as they work out a plan to find the alien. Their discussion is cut short when an alarm sounds. Vasquez steps up to her console and quickly figures out that the reactor that powers the building has been corrupted.

"What does that mean?" Supergirl asks.

"It means this whole building could blow, taking ten city blocks with it," J'onn remarks.

"Then we better find that martian,"Supergirl points out.

"We'll go search for him. You stay here with them," J'onn says laying a hand on the hero's shoulder.

Unsaid, but understood between them is the fact that if M'gann and J'onn aren't successful. If they can't stop the white martian, it will be up to Supergirl to save everyone from the explosion.

As they make their way through the reactor area looking for the martian disguised as Agent Schott, they find the actual Winn tucked away in a web. "We found the real Agent Schott and he's okay," J'onn states into his coms.

In the control room everyone looks around relieved.

"Have you found the martian?" Supergirl asks.

"No," J'onn says. "Supergirl there are two white martians," he blurts out. "And Alex is the other one."

In the control room, Supergirl spins around to face her sister. Mentally, reminding herself that it's not Alex.

"You guys are so dumb," the martian disguised as Alex exclaims before attacking the hero and throwing her across the room.

Supergirl recovers quickly and launches herself at the other alien, reminding herself that it isn't her sister.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Downstairs, M'gann and J'onn have rescued the real Winn and Alex. J'onn explains the situation to Winn, while M'gann takes care of Alex.

"We've got to go. Schott is the only one who can stop that reactor from exploding," J'onn explains to M'gann.

"I'll stay with her, go ahead." She says nodding over to the agent still recovering from the exposure to the martian secretions.

In the reactor room, Winn can barely concentrate on stabilizing the core with J'onn and Supergirl fighting the white martians in the same room.

"This stuff never happened at CATCO," Winn grumbles as he goes back and forth between the two different control panels in the reactor room, dodging the fighting aliens at each turn.

"It's such a relief to no longer have to pretend to care about your feelings!" The white martian disguised as Alex quips before transforming back into his own skin and launching himself at Supergirl again. The hero flies across the room from the impact and Winn glances up worriedly.

"Come on, come on," he mutters as the system counts down to two minutes. Ignoring the warning, he continues to work to stabilize the reactor's core.

M'gann transforms into a green martian to help J'onn fight Armek, and even though it's two against one, the white martian still has the upperhand. Until finally, M'gann is able to grab a piece of debris and impale him with it as he stands over J'onn about to kill him.

Across the room, Supergirl appears to have finally beat the other martian. She rushes over to Winn, just as the system announces that the core is now stable. Twelve seconds remain on the screen.

"That was close," the hero exclaims.

"Nah, we had a full twelve seconds left," Winn quips with a smile, holding up his hand for a high five.

Their celebration is cut short when the white martian that Supergirl knocked out, rises up to his feet.

From across the room a burst of blue light shoots out and the alien falls back down.

"Have I mentioned lately, how much I love this new gun?" Alex asks sarcastically from the doorway.


	3. Chapter 3

Late the next morning Kara is sitting at her desk trying to concentrate on editing her piece before turning it in. But she is distracted at the thought of finally getting to see and talk to Ms Grant. In the almost three years as the woman's assistant, they never went longer than a week without communicating. Kara takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, as much as she is tempted to find a reason to go upstairs, she knows that it's pointless because Ms Grant is in meetings all day. Another hour passes and Kara realizes that she has been staring at the same paragraph without making a single edit. Checking her phone for messages, she hears Snapper grumbling his way through the bullpen. She pushes her phone aside and resumes editing her story.

He slows a bit, barely stopping at her desk, "Danvers. My office. Now." He grumbles before continuing on his way.

Not sure she heard correctly, she pauses and somehow he knows that she's reluctant and he adds.

"Has the concept of now, somehow escaped your tiny brain? Get in here Danvers," he grumbles louder holding his office door open and glaring at her. Dropping her head embarrassed, Kara grabs her steno pad and paper and scrambles after him.

"Chief if this is about the piece on the Mayor's office staff, it's done, I'm just doing the final edit before I submit it," she explains quickly as she passes by him and into the office.

He shuts the door and turns around to face her.

"The Mayor's staff story has been tabled," he replies gruffly.

"Oh," Kara replies disappointedly.

"I just got out of a meeting. Olsen resigned and Grant is back," he states as if that should explain everything.

Kara doesn't respond, instead she tries to look confused.

He narrows his eyes at her in disbelief. "You don't seem surprised by either of those things?"

"James Olsen is personal friend of mine," Kara admits carefully.

"You know what I think Danvers?" He asks rhetorically. "I think that Cat Grant called you to find out why your buddy Olsen quit, and I think that you took that opportunity to go around me to pitch her this piece on Guardian?" Snapper challenges tossing a folder at her.

"I would not do that," Kara blurts out anxiously. "And I-I've never even seen this pitch before," she adds glancing through the folder.

He stares at her a bit and decides that she is being honest, besides he knows that she is a terrible liar.

"Well, it's yours now. That's your new story assignment," he barks nodding at the folder in her hands.

Kara is stunned. Her mouth opens but no words come out.

"You gotta question Danvers, or have you just decided to share your fish impersonation?" He snarks.

"Questions," Kara retorts, opening and closing the folder again, but still confused as to how she got this assignment.

"Care to share them with me or should I try to guess what they are. I know, why don't we play charades," he snaps sarcastically.

She closes the folder and looks up at him. "I -I'll just should go back to my desk and review this... If I have questions, I'll come back," she suggests.

"Great, I'll just sit here patiently awaiting your return," he quips as he picks up his ringing phone. "Carr!" He barks into the receiver.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At her desk, Kara reviews the assignment outline again. It's an expose on the vigilante known as Guardian. The contact list includes the director of the vigilante task force at NCPD, a criminal justice professor at NCU and several eyewitnesses. Kara definitely has questions and she quickly begins making notes and highlighting areas that she wants more information on. A few minutes into it and her phone buzzes in her pocket alerting her that it is time to go meet Alex for lunch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Happy Birthday," Alex says as soon as Kara enters the lobby area..

"Alex," Kara says brightly giving her sister a quick hug. "Hey, I thought that we were meeting at Noonan's."

"Yeah well, I was early so I thought I'd meet you here and walk over with you," Alex replies brightly, slipping her arm into Kara's. "So how is your morning?

"Well, the story that I've been working on all week was pulled, but at least I got another assignment," Kara answers.

"What, they killed the puff piece on the Mayor's staff," Alex remarks in mock horror.

Kara laughs, "Actually, I probably should discuss this new one with you, but not now," Kara says glancing around at all the people surrounding them as they cross the lobby.

"Okay," Alex says wondering why Kara doesn't seem herself. "Hey, what's going on? You are usually more excited about your Earth Birthday," Alex asks before ducking them both into a small alcove for a bit of privacy.

"It's nothing," Kara replies, but Alex knows better and she waits. "Alex, this is my thirteenth year here," Kara says softly to her.

"And," Alex replies softly to prompt her to continue.

"From this point on I will have been on Earth longer than I was on Krypton," Kara whispers. "I will have known you and Eliza longer than I knew my parents."

"I should have known that. Damn it. I feel like I'm letting you down. I am a terrible sister," Alex groans.

"You're not a terrible sister. But lately I just can't stop thinking about what my life would be like if I had arrived here on time and taken care of Kal-El," Kara admits. "We wouldn't be sisters and I can't imagine my life without you."

"Oh Kara, I had no idea that you were dealing with this again. I'll cancel with Maggie tonight," Alex replies, pulling her phone out of her pocket.

"Alex, no. You are not canceling with Maggie. I'm fine. It's just, Winn is now training to be a field agent, and James, James is leaving CATCO, it's all happening so fast," Kara says her voice breaking a little at the end. "And you know that change is hard for me."

"Kara, Maggie will understand," Alex pushes back.

"No Alex. I'm fine, really," Kara states firmly with a smile. "Besides I already have plans tonight, so go out and enjoy the concert."

"Wait, you have dinner plans tonight? With who?" Alex questions.

"Ms Grant is back and I'm having dinner with her tonight," Kara answers.

"Oh god, Kara doesn't she know it's your birthday? She's going to suck you back into being her assistant and you're a great reporter, you just need a chance to..." Alex begins to rant.

"I don't know if she remembers that it's my birthday and it's fine if she doesn't. But it's not a work dinner, she invited me over to catch up, I think maybe she misses me," Kara suggests hopefully.

"I'm sure that she has missed you in her own way, but she is probably counting on you telling her what's been going on at CATCO since she left. Kara this might be sort of a work dinner," Alex replies not wanting her sister to be disappointed by her dinner with her former boss.

Kara looks away, she doesn't want Alex to see how disappointed she feels at the thought of what she's said.

Alex understands that Kara is done talking about Cat Grant for now, and while she hopes that tonight goes well for Kara, she doesn't want her to get her hopes up that it's anything more than Cat trying to get information. The two sisters each steal wary glances at each other as they begins walking towards the restaurant.

"Um, so what time is the concert tonight?" Kara asks, mostly to change the topic.

"Maggie's picking me up at seven, then we're going to grab a quick dinner before the concert," Alex replies as they reach the door, she casts a glance near the back to see if James and Winn are ready for them.

"Well, I still can't believe that Maggie shares your love of the Barenaked Ladies," Kara teases. "You guys must really be made for each other," she adds as they enter the restaurant.

"I think that she has seen them more than I have. But then I haven't been to a concert since I went with you to that Backstreet Boys tour a couple years ago," Alex reminds her.

"Which was a really awesome birthday by the way," Kara inserts, but now she is noticing that not only is Alex acting weird, she is heading to the back of the restaurant. Past all their usual tables, Kara thinks as she looks around, before finally noticing James and Winn, arguing as they put candles on her birthday cake.

"I can't believe that you didn't get enough candles," Winn grumbles.

"I didn't notice that there were only 24 in a box, I don't buy birthday candles that often," James retorts.

"It's fine guys 24 is close enough," Kara says laughing at them.

The two guys turn around shocked that they didn't notice her approaching.

"Kara! Surprise!" They shout out together.

"Thank you," Kara says smiling at both of them.

"Happy Birthday Kara," James offers not quite making eye contact with her, but offering her a hug.

"Thanks James," she murmurs into his ear as they embrace.

"It's good to see you, I guess we'll have to work on that now that I am persona non grata at CATCO," he says letting his voice trail off.

"Yeah, I am surprised that you were able to get this close," Kara jokes.

"Me too," he returns with another laugh.

"I'm just glad that we're all here and not still stuck on the ceiling at the DEO," Winn says laughing.

"Winn," Alex says shushing him with a smack on his head. "You can't say stuff like that in places like this," she reminds him.

"Happy Birthday Kara," Maggie says as she approaches the little group. "Sorry that I am late, but here, I got a little something for you," the brunette says handing over a small gift bag.

"Maggie, you didn't have to do that," Kara says giving her a shy hug and taking the gift.

"I totally did though," Maggie replies. "I'm so sorry that I didn't know it was your birthday before I bought tickets for tonight," she adds.

"It's fine and Alex loves Barenaked Ladies," Kara replies.

"Oh I know she does," Maggie teases arching an eyebrow at her girlfriend, which immediately cause Alex and Kara to flush matching shades of red. "Guess that runs in the family," the small brunette quips teasing them both again.

Kara smiles brightly watching her sister wrap her arms around her girlfriend in public.

"Oh, hey the food is up," Winn says as the pager thing flashes and vibrates on the table. James follows him to help, leaving Kara, Alex and Maggie at the table.

"I love you," Kara mouths silently to her sister and Alex says it back.

Maggie catches the exchange and she reaches over and slips an arm around Kara to pull her in.

"You two are so damn cute," she exclaims giving them each a squeeze.

"Hey time for a gift!" Maggie shakes the gift bag at Kara, who smiles and opens it quickly.

"Yes!" Kara gushes and pumps her fist, two tickets to see an NSYNC tribute band next month. "I've heard that these guys are really really good, thank you Maggie!" She exclaims happily.

"Yes, but wait Kara. Here's the best part..." Alex says waiting until she has her sister's attention. "If you can't find a date, Maggie will go with you," she adds laughing.

"That is true, I love NSYNC," Maggie quips laughing, while Alex shakes her head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So Kara, what are you doing tonight for your birthday?" Winn asks as he walks with her back to CATCO.

"Oh, I have dinner plans," she says plainly.

"Oh, I guess that's why Mon-El wasn't here, because he's taking you out tonight," Winn remarks trying to be neutral.

"Actually, I don't have plans with Mon-El and he wasn't here because he's sort of avoiding me right now," Kara replies.

"Avoiding you? Why?" Winn asks curiously.

"He sort of told me how he feels the other night and I-I..." Kara stammers.

"Oh, you shot him down, because of course you did," Winn interjects sarcastically.

"Winn," Kara warns. "I shot him down because I don't feel the same way. Would it somehow have been better if I had lied to him?"

"No, no of course not. But just I thought that he might have a chance with you, what with him being an alien and all," Winn suggests.

She rolls her eyes at him. "I just want to focus on me right now and being a reporter is important to me," she reminds him.

"Yeah, so how is that going?" Winn questions, eager to change the subject.

"It's harder than I thought it would be," Kara admits. "But I think that I'm getting the hang of it and the new assignment that I got today is going to be a tough one," she says unsure if she should mention that it is about Guardian.

Winn's phone rings interrupting them, so Kara hangs back a moment to let him answer it.

"Hey, I've got to get back. Vasquez is running some system diagnostics after yesterday and she needs my help," he explains.

"Sure," Kara replies. "Thanks for lunch and everything," she adds.

"Of course, and Kara don't be a stranger. I know that I've been really busy lately, but I miss you. Maybe we could figure out a weekly lunch date or something," he suggests.

"I'd really like that," Kara says giving him a kiss on the cheek.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Entering the building Kara steps into the elevator and without thinking she hits the button for the 40th floor. As she watches the numbers fly past the floor that her office is on, she groans, realizing what she did. As the elevator approaches the 40th floor, she reaches out to punch the correct button but is distracted when she hears the flirty laugh Eve Teschmacher, which she knows because she's heard it before. The elevator doors open and there she is, standing beside Mon-El, their arms looped together.

"Hey Kara," Mon-El says greeting her quickly and stepping aside to let her pass.

"Oh hi Mike. Hi Eve." Kara replies, with a small wave, which brings attention to the gift bags in her hand.

"Oh gosh Kara, it's your birthday. Happy birthday," Eve says quickly.

"It's your birthday?" Mon-El questions.

"Uh, yeah happens every year, about this time," Kara quips awkwardly. "Enjoy your lunch, you two." She adds before dashing past them and down the hall to her office.

Unlocking the door, Kara slips into her office and quickly sets the bags on the desk. For a moment, she contemplates working from here the rest of the day. A light knock on the door behind her shakes her out of her reverie.

Kara turns around and almost jumps out of her skin. "Oh Ms Grant, what are you doing here?" She blurts out as the smaller woman pushes through the door and closes it behind her.

"Well, it is my building. And my office is on this floor," Cat points out teasingly.

"Right, that's not what I- what are you doing here in my office?" Kara asks rephrasing the question.

"I saw you get off the elevator and just wanted to say hello," Cat informs her.

Kara stares blankly at her a moment, slow to comprehend.

"We haven't seen each other in months," Cat reminds her. "Kara, have you recently hit your head or something?" She asks sarcastically but concerned just the same.

"No, nothing like that. It's just been a busy day," Kara answers, leaning back on her desk.

Cat's eyes go to the gift bags on the desk. "When I suggested that we have dinner tonight, I didn't remember that it was your birthday" she admits. "I understand if you have other plans," she remarks.

"No, I don't have any other plans tonight. Everyone is busy, so w-we just did a lunch thing," Kara explains waving her hands as if it's perfectly fine with it.

"Hmm," Cat murmurs, putting it together now. The falling out with James. Winn leaving CATCO and the sister is dating. Kara is lonely, that's why she is snappish and sad.

"Ms Grant, I am fine, really. And it's not really..., I mean it's a birthday, I'll have another one next year," Kara replies catching herself before she admits that today isn't really her birthday. Because she doesn't have one on this planet. Her birthday only exists in the Kryptonian universe.

Cat frowns, in over three years she has only seen this side of Kara a few times. But before she can decide what to say, her phone alerts her that it is almost time for her next meeting. "Kara, is seven too early for tonight?" She asks.

"Seven is fine Ms Grant," Kara replies. "Should I bring anything?"

"Steven will pick you up just before 7," Cat says flashing her a quick smile before darting out of the office.


	4. Chapter 4

"Be careful tonight and call Hank if you get into trouble. Kara is celebrating her birthday tonight and I don't want Supergirl called out," Alex cautions Winn before he leaves work.

"Who is Kara going out with tonight?" Winn asks. "I-I asked her but we just ended up talking about Mon-El."

"Not for me to say," Alex replies.

"If it's not Mon-El, who could it be? Do you know?" Winn questions.

Alex doesn't answer but she does smirk at the question.

"Fine, I'll just ask her the next time I see her," he retorts.

"Just be careful tonight," Alex repeats before turning to walk away.

"Have fun at the concert," Winn calls after her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cat is waiting for her arrival, holding two glasses of champagne. Kara is surprised to see that she is dressed casually in slacks and a blouse, oddly enough, she is wearing ballet flats.

"Happy birthday Kara," Cat says handing her a glass of champagne.

"Wow, thank you Ms Grant," Kara replies taking the glass and following her inside.

"You look very nice tonight, that dress is quite becoming on you," Cat remarks pausing to let her pass before closing the door behind her.

Kara enters slowly. Uncomfortably realizing that she is towering over the other woman. "Uh, should I take these off?" She asks gesturing at her heels.

"Only if you are uncomfortable," Cat retorts.

"It's not that," Kara replies standing there awkwardly. "It's just that you are wearing flats and I'm not," she says trying to explain.

Cat laughs softly and looks down at her own feet. "Kara, I realize that I have made this an issue in the past, but you are no longer my assistant and we're not out in public. But if you prefer, I could change into heels," she offers playfully.

"No. No more change, I can adjust," Kara replies as she begins slipping her shoes off.

"So twenty-six," Cat remarks before taking another sip of champagne as they stand out on the balcony watching the end of the sunset.

"Twenty-six?" Kara repeats with a confused look.

"Your birthday. It is your twenty-sixth birthday," Cat repeats curiously. What an odd thing for Kara not to connect, she thinks.

"Oh right. Yes. Twenty-six t-today," Kara stammers unconvincingly, before turning back to the sight of the sun sinking into the ocean, "Ms Grant, that," she says haltingly. "It's so beautiful."

"It's Cat." Cat replies. "And I think that we have moved past the need for formality, Kara."

"Cat," Kara says immediately, testing out the name in her mouth and nodding in agreement. "The whole thing about calling me Kiera was just a power thing, wasn't it?"

Now it is Cat's turn to be uncomfortable. "Something like that, Perry White called me Kitty the whole time that I was his assistant. It infuriated me, but it also motivated me. You didn't seem to care like I did, probably why I kept it up for so long," she admits.

"Oh it did bother me, I just didn't want you to know. I thought if I didn't react to it, you would stop doing it," Kara explains. "Then after awhile, I really didn't care. Although it did make the few times you called my name correctly more special."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Earth to Alex," Maggie says squeezing her hand to get her girlfriend's attention.

"Sorry, I'm just a little distracted by something Kara told me earlier today," Alex replies leaning over and giving her girlfriend a light kiss.

"Wanna talk about it?" Maggie asks.

"I do, but not here and not now," Alex says glancing around the small restaurant. "Tell me Sawyer, how is it that someone who professes to hate romance, knows about this place?"

"Maybe you bring out the romantic in me," Maggie replies playfully. A dangerously sexy smile on her face.

"Smooth Sawyer," Alex says breathlessly, leaning in for another kiss.

Maggie leans into the kiss this time, making it a bit more than the earlier peck.

"Mmm," Alex murmurs as it ends.

"Promise that we'll talk about whatever this is later?" Maggie requests softly.

"Yes, but it's something with Kara. She's who I really need to talk to," Alex admits biting her lip nervously.

"You want to call her before the concert?" Maggie asks.

"No, she's out having dinner. It can wait until tomorrow. But thank you," Alex answers.

"Kara has a date on her birthday?"

"Uh, not a date. I mean, I would know if Kara was dating someone, especially if it was Cat Grant," Alex jokes.

"Kara's having dinner with Cat Grant? The Cat Grant?" Maggie asks excitedly.

"Maggie, shhh, not so loud. Kara was her assistant before she became a reporter," Alex replies softly, worried that people will overhear their conversation.

"You Danvers sisters are just full of surprises," Maggie exclaims. "So how long did Kara last as her assistant?"

"Almost three years before she was promoted," Alex replies softly.

"Oh my god, three years," Maggie exclaims. "Wait, does Grant know about Kara? I mean she has to, she is the Queen of all Media. There's no way a ponytail and a pair of glasses would fool her."

"Well, if she knows then she is keeping it to herself. But I agree, she has to know. Especially since Livewire tried to kill them both twice and the third time she kidnapped Cat and used her as bait," Alex explains.

"Ha! Cat Grant is Supergirl's Lois Lane!" Maggie exclaims softly but then bursting into laughter.

"Wait, what?" Alex blurts out confused for a moment, then realizing what Maggie means. "Oh no, no Maggie it's not like that, Kara's not. Cat Grant isn't either," she stammers.

"Alex, all of that bad blood and rivalry between Grant and Lane has nothing to do with Superman. They're ex-girlfriends." Maggie retorts.

"No!" Alex replies. "How would you even know that?" She challenges.

"I am a detective," Maggie teases. "Okay, I know about it because I used to have a big crush on Cat Grant. And also because my cousin has teased me about her ever since I moved to National City."

"Well that doesn't mean it's true. How would he even know that?" Alex challenges again and Maggie just smiles and shrugs.

"I think we'll know soon enough, especially if Kara is on a date with her tonight.," Maggie jokes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Is there anything that I can do to help?" Kara asks glancing around the kitchen.

Cat is about to politely decline her offer, but Kara is already opening the cabinet and pulling down plates.

"Thank you," Cat says setting the dish down on top of the stove. "The salad is in the refrigerator," she adds.

Kara smiles and turns around to retrieve the bowl. "Oh, this is my favorite," she exclaims.

"I think that is the only salad that I have ever seen you eat," Cat teases over her shoulder as she plates their dinner.

"Yeah, I don't know how you eat it so often," Kara retorts playfully.

"Well, I don't know how you manage to look like that eating mostly pizza and potstickers," Cat remarks casting a long glance at her.

"I work out," Kara replies with shrug.

"Hmm," Cat murmurs, barely suppressing a remark about alien metabolisms.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Did Kara tell you who she's having dinner with tonight?" Winn asks James as casually as possible.

"I don't get what she sees in Mon-El, but if he makes her happy..." James retorts.

"He doesn't and that's not who she is seeing tonight," Winn informs him.

"If it's not him, then who else could it be," James guesses.

"I asked Alex, but she wouldn't tell me," Winn replies. "I bet that she doesn't even know."

"Alex always knows. How did she respond though?" He asks.

"She said 'not mine to tell'... wait, aren't those the same words that Hank used the other night, about knowing that Alex was dating Maggie," Winn points out.

"Do you think that Kara is dating a woman?" James blurts out.

"Well, according to Mon-El, they don't judge sexuality on Daxom like we do and Krypton is probably the same way," Winn points out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The two women sit opposite each other in the small nook off the kitchen. There is a beautiful bouquet on the table and candles, the intimate setting is oddly comforting to Kara and she can't help but smile as she takes it all in.

"I hope you don't mind, since it's just the two of us, I thought this would be more conducive to conversation if we dined here," Cat remarks returning the smile. Even though she had told her caterer that it was dinner for a friend's birthday, Cat didn't expect her to set the table with flowers and candles. But since Cat doesn't entertain guests very often in her home, Denise must have assumed that it was someone special.

"It's perfect. Thank you Cat," Kara replies with a brilliant smile. "No one's ever done something like this for my birthday before," she adds and Cat can detect just a hint of sadness there.

"You are quite welcome, but all I did was call the caterer," Cat scoffs playfully.

They dine in silence for a moment. Kara can't help wondering if she would have even met Cat Grant if her pod had arrived on time. 

Cat hoping that she can get the girl to open up and share whatever it is that is weighing her down.

Across the table, Cat clears her throat softly before speaking.

"I was able to visit Adam on his birthday this year, he didn't want to go out, so we cooked dinner together at his apartment," Cat offers conversationally.

Kara hides her surprise at Cat mentioning Adam. And it proves that Alex was wrong about the dinner being about work. "How is Adam?" She asks politely.

"He is back at Cornell and on track to finish his master's," Cat answers. She realizes that she brought him up, but she really doesn't want to discuss Adam with Kara, especially not tonight. "What are the birthday traditions in the Danvers' family?"

"The usual stuff, when Alex and I lived at home, her mom would make dinner and a cake. But now since neither of us really cook, we usually treat the other to something that we know they like," Kara explains.

Cat nods. Thankfully, Kara has met her mother and doesn't ask after Cat's own birthdays at home.

"How was Washington? I saw that you attended a State dinner at the White House, that must have been quite interesting," Kara remarks looking up from her plate.

"Yes, State dinners can be quite interesting, and I have attended many over the years. They are always different, there weren't as many international leaders at this one, probably a bit of backlash from the Alien Amnesty Act, but I was happy to go and publicly show my support," Cat replies. "I did mention to the President, that she should have invited Supergirl."

Kara almost chokes on her food at the remark, quickly covering her mouth with her napkin to hide her reaction. The President did actually invite Supergirl to the State dinner. But Alex and Hank decided that it was too high profile of an event. Kara only found out after the fact that Cat was also attending, had she known that she may have decided to go. But she can't say any of this to Cat, so instead she just smiles politely.

Cat smiles. It's only been a few months, but she can tell that Kara has changed in her absence. She seems a bit more poised and confident. Gone is her nervous giggling and awkward comments. And today in her meeting with the editorial staff, the girl seems to be winning Snapper over. Cat suspected that it was only a matter of time before Kara proved herself to him. And today, she was pleased that Lucas took one look at the Guardian pitch and assigned it to the young reporter. Now with everything going well at work, Cat can't help but wonder about what is causing Kara's undercurrent of sadness.

Kara takes a sip of wine and clears her throat lightly. "How was your first day back?"

"Busy, I thought that the meetings would never end and apparently at some point in the last month, James really began slacking off. There is quite a bit to catch up on before the quarter ends," Cat remarks with just a trace of annoyance.

"I could help you..." Kara begins but stops herself. "I know that I am not your assistant, but I do know those reports inside and out," she reminds her.

"Yes, yes you do. But you also trained Ms Teschmacher quite well and she's organized them and has worked out a plan of attack for us to get through them," Cat says appreciatively.

Across the table, a satisfied smile breaks across Kara's face. "I am just so glad that you are back," she exclaims her voice tinged with emotion.

"Hmm, well it is good to be back," Cat replies, noticing the underlying sadness in Kara's tone. "I missed you too," she adds softly.

Kara stops eating, did Cat really just admit that she missed her.

"It is okay to admit that you missed me. Kara, after working side by side for three years, it would be unusual not to, unless of course, you didn't," Cat teases.

"I did Ms Grant, I did miss you. And it wasn't just because of everything with James and Mr Carr," Kara remarks realizing that she used her title again. "Cat, I hope that this, tonight, means that we are friends. Because I could really use you, as a friend," she adds, trying not to worry about how this will affect their Supergirl/Cat relationship.

Silently, Cat nods. Kara has always been the exception. Not only has she been the only assistant to last longer than a few months, she is also the only employee that Cat has truly mentored. Deciding to leave CATCO was more about giving Kara room to grow out from under Cat's shadow, than Cat needing to dive into something new. Although after ten years of building the company, taking a few months off was just what she needed to get a new perspective.

"Kara, there are very few people in my life that I consider friends, and you know that I prefer to maintain professional relationships with my subordinates," Cat begins.

Cat watches the disappointment cross Kara's face. She barely refrains from reaching out to reassure her, instead she quickly continues explaining herself. "As you know, I have rules for workplace relationships and behavior, yet you have consistently managed to be the exception to almost every one of them."

It takes Kara a moment to process, but then she smiles. "I'm an exception?" She asks.

"Yes, an exceptional exception," Cat replies playfully. "Which you already knew since I do not entertain employees in my home, only friends and family."

"Well I considered that, but since Carter is gone right now, I thought that you may have changed your mind," Kara remarks. "And I thought maybe you just wanted to talk about CATCO privately." She adds.

"Kara, I wanted to talk to you privately to find out how you are doing. I've followed your bylines and I can tell that you're on your way to becoming an excellent reporter," Cat replies.

"You've followed my bylines?" Kara inquires.

"Of course, I have. You're the closest thing to a protege that I have. I am invested in you and your success, why else would I lure Lucas Carr away from The Daily Planet to take over as Editor and Chief to train you?"

"But you hired him before I decided to be a reporter," Kara points out.

"I hired him because I knew that you would choose reporting and I wanted you to learn from the best. Even if I can't stand being in the same room with him for longer than 3 minutes, Snapper has won multiple Pulitzer's for reporting," Cat explains.

"Oh," Kara replies pausing a moment to consider Cat's remark. "Snapper...H-he was so horrible to me at first and you wouldn't help me. I thought that I had made a huge mistake," Kara replies.

"Kara, I knew that you were having a difficult time, but you didn't need me to fight your battles. I left because if you continued to run to me every time he upset you, it was only going to make things harder for you. Reporting takes an incredible amount of perseverance. And I knew that you had what it takes from the way you handled yourself in your interview with me," Cat reminds her.

"You knew then that I would be a reporter? How?" Kara asks.

"Instinct mostly, but I could see a bit of myself in you. Then as we began working together, I could tell that you have the integrity to right wrongs and see justice done," Cat admits with a smile.

The words have the intended effect on Kara, washing over the girl and brightening her whole being. Cat hesitates a moment before continuing.

"You inspire me Kara. I can see the hero within you."

Kara freezes. "Ms Grant..." she begins to protest.

"Don't Ms Grant me," Cat snaps. "And I am talking about you, Kara. You inspire me and you are every bit the hero that Supergirl is."

"Cat, I'm not a hero," Kara replies, intent to argue the point.

"Perhaps, we should agree to disagree," Cat proposes.

Kara shrugs reluctantly agreeing to it.

"And for the record, I have met and interviewed my share of heroes and one thing that they all have in common was that they don't think that they are heroes," Cat adds smugly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 
> Please forgive the slow updates. Life gets in the way of writing too often. I hope to get one more chapter posted before Wed, but houseguests over the weekend will limit my writing time.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Supergirl Day! I'm hopeful that tonight's episode is going to be fun and not disappointing, but just in case, here's the next chapter of my version of season 2...
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kara stands at the window looking at the city, the dinner conversation still playing in her head. She hears Cat coming down but waits until she can see her reflection before turning around to see her holding a beautifully wrapped gift.

"Happy Birthday Kara," Cat says moving to the couch to set the gift on the table.

Excitedly Kara crosses the room to join her on the couch. "It's almost too beautiful to open," she exclaims.

Cat smiles at her, encouraging her to open it.

Kara's smile only brightens further when she opens the box to reveal a leather Montblanc portfolio with matching pen.

"Now you can put that steno pad away and look like a real reporter," Cat teases.

"C-Cat... this is so much... I mean thank you," Kara stammers admiring the gift. "Thank you so much. It's lovely and the pen, wow, it's really so much," she mumbles, tears threatening to fall.

Cat shakes her own head slightly and quickly glances up, an old trick to keep tears from falling.

"Um, and I don't know that this counts as a birthday gift, since I got it for you last week and had planned to mail it to you," Cat says handing over another gift bag, that Kara hadn't even noticed yet.

Smiling, Kara opens the gift bag and pulls out a long-sleeve shirt. She wrinkles her brow, surprised at the gift until she unfolds it and across the front are the words, Power To The Girls. "Oh gosh. Cat, I love this!" She gushes.

"I knew that you would," Cat replies smugly, before adding, "And Kara, Power To The Girls is a non-profit foundation. I met with their founder last week and I have agreed to sit on the board of advisors."

Kara notices that there is something else in the bag. She pulls out a piece of paper.

"This is a press release," she exclaims, then noticing that it is dated tomorrow, she adds, "y-y-you're giving me an exclusive!"

Cat smiles easily. "Kara, it is not uncommon for me to give exclusives to my own reporters," she points out.

"But you're picking me? Cat, I-I don't know how to thank you," Kara says at a loss for words.

"Kara, I realize that I haven't always shown it, but I am very proud of you," Cat replies, tearing up again, but this time not hiding it.

"Cat, you have always inspired me to be better and to work hard. And I might not understand why you see me as a hero, but you are definitely my hero," Kara confesses, taking off her glasses to wipe away a tear.

"Well, we seem to have formed our own mutual admiration society," Cat jokes, but also wipes away a tear from her own face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Any word from Kara?" Maggie asks as she crosses the room to sit on the other side of the bed.

"No, but I'm done talking about my sister tonight," Alex says patting the spot beside her.

"Mmm," Maggie purrs as she moves across the bed, putting her arm around Alex's waist to pull her closer. "What should we talk about then?"

"No talking," Alex says placing a finger against Maggie's lips.

"Bossy, I like it," Maggie says before moving on top of her girlfriend and kissing her deeply.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kara sits on her bed in pajama bottoms and the new t-shirt and carefully examines the portfolio. She pulls out the press release and reads it through again, before pulling out the pen and quickly makes an outline for the exclusive. She knows that Snapper will want it to be brief, but she also wants to make sure that she conveys the importance of the organization. She grabs her computer to pull up the website to verify a few things, but is shocked to be greeted with her own face, or rather Supergirl's face.

"Power To The Girls, an organization dedicated to empowering girls to take control of their future, was inspired by Supergirl." The copy reads and Kara can't believe that Cat didn't mention this connection. Kara frowns, worried. Alex already went crazy when she used Supergirl as a source in the alien fight club story, she isn't going to be happy when she finds out about this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All in all Cat deems the evening a success. It felt good to be able to let down her guard a bit and spend time getting to really know the young woman. Kara still didn't open up as much as Cat hoped. They definitely took a step in the right direction, the CEO thinks as she finishes tidying up the kitchen.

Moving into her bedroom, she continues to reflect. The time away from National City allowed her to gain a new perspective on many things in her life. And not just her work/life balance, which was definitely out of balance. She also realized that there was no one in her life in tune to her any more. Yes, she has friends who know her well, but they all are as busy as she is. In fact, the only person that she has spent any real time in the past several years was Kara. Even after she promoted her, they still seemed to find time to see each other. In fact, that was what worried her. After promoting Kara, she had no idea the level of dedication that Kara would have in training her replacement. Cat was amazed at how easily Ms Teschmacher was able to step in as her assistant. The transition practically seamless. The worst thing being lukewarm lattes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unable to sleep, Kara has been up writing for several hours, but the sound of her front door opening breaks her concentration. She looks up.

"Hey," Alex says entering the loft. "I brought crullers." She announces holding up the box of her sister's favorite breakfast food.

"Thanks," Kara replies closing her laptop. "Alex, I didn't expect to see you this morning. Did something happen between you and Maggie last night?" She asks with concern before heading into the kitchen to make coffee.

"No, last night was great, but she got called in early this morning, so I thought that I'd check in with you. How was your birthday dinner with Ms Grant?" Alex asks going over to stand right beside her sister as she sets up the coffee maker.

"Where did you get this shirt?" Alex asks noticing it when Kara turns to face her.

"Cat gave it to me last night, it's a new organization and she's on the board of advisors. I'm writing a piece on it now, actually," Kara says, careful not to make eye contact with her sister, instead she opens the box of crullers.

"Cat? That's new. What are you two friends now?" Alex questions. Noticing that Kara has yet to eat a cruller.

"Yeah, we are and dinner was good. Great actually," Kara answers, closing the box and glancing over at the coffee pot.

"Did she... did she cook the dinner?" Alex asks, suddenly curious about Kara's birthday dinner with her former boss.

"Oh no, she called the caterer, but dinner was really good. She had them make some of my favorite foods." Kara says with just a trace of a smile breaking at the corner of her mouth.

"Wow," Alex replies unsure of what to think of this now. She heads over to Kara's desk to see what she was working on. "Uh, you're writing about her and this new organization? She gave you an assignment last night for your birthday?" Alex questions lightly as she notices the press release with notes written all over it.

"Uh, yeah. I guess that she did," Kara admits smiling brightly.

"Whoa, did she also give you this?" Alex blurts out when she spots the Montblanc portfolio beside Kara's laptop.

Kara nods, her mouth full of cruller.

"Wait, Kara. What does all this mean? She's still your boss, I mean she owns the company," Alex points out.

"I don't report directly to her and it's just a friendship Alex. Why is it so hard for you to believe that she would want to be my friend?" Kara asks just a trace of hurt in her question.

"Kara, she is the Queen of all Media And it wasn't that long ago that she thought you were Supergirl," Alex reminds her. "I just worry that she is doing all of this to get close to you." 

"Alex, do you honestly think that after everything that happened during Myriad, that she wouldn't realize that I am Supergirl?" Kara asks.

"Have you talked to her about it. Does she know, know that you're Supergirl?" Alex questions.

"No, we haven't talked about it, but I can tell that she knows the truth," Kara answers.

"Kara, if Cat Grant thinks that you are Supergirl..." Alex begins to rant.

"Alex!" Kara yells to cut her off. "She knows, okay?"

Alex stops pacing and turns back to face her sister.

"Just stop. I-I'll handle it," Kara says firmly crossing her arms.

"She has to understand that this isn't some game, your secret identity is as important for her safety as it is for yours," Alex exclaims worriedly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

"What's this?" Snapper asks when Kara turns in the exclusive to him.

"The press release went out this morning, this is for the Tribune's breaking news section," Kara replies.

"The press release was sent at 7:51 am. It is now 8:05 and you've already wrote 500 words on an organization that no one's heard of," he questions gruffly.

"It was given to me late yesterday. And you said that when we get an exclusive press release..." Kara begins to remind him of his own rule.

"Danvers, I'm not questioning that. Why didn't you log it in the assignment folder?" He questions.

"I logged it this morning, when I turned it in," Kara points out.

"From now on, when you get an exclusive, you notify me immediately," Snapper barks, pointing his finger in her face.

"Uh Chief, does that apply to everyone or just me?" Kara questions angrily, crossing her arms in front of her.

"It applies to you Ponytail," he grumbles before storming away from her desk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

"Exclusives from you, go through me Grant," Snapper says angrily as he enters the CEO's office.

"Excuse me," Cat replies, slowly looking up from her computer to her irate Editor-in-Chief. "Oh, I'm sorry Lucas, did I overstep?" She asks sarcastically pushing her chair back slightly, just enough to improve the angle of her best angry glare. "Because last I checked, it's my name on the masthead as publisher."

"You hired me to run your editorial division. You replace yourself with Olsen, the boy wonder, and you force me to take on Danvers, your pet project and turn her into a reporter. Well how do you expect me to do that if you're going to hand-feed her exclusives," he bellows. "She needs to do the work to get the bylines or have you forgotten what it takes to be a real reporter?"

"I assure you that I know exactly what it takes to be a reporter. And she is doing the work. Do I need to remind you that I am not the first CEO to give Ms Danvers an exclusive," Cat points out.

"Oh, I get it," he scoffs. "Don't think I don't know what's going on here. And yes, you are the second female CEO in National City to fall under the ingenuous charm of Kara Danvers," he counters loudly.

Cat flinches at the remark before glaring at him dangerously.

"Out. Side," she says seething in anger, but not about to have this discussion in view of the bullpen.

Snapper follows her out to the balcony, realizing that his remark was a bit out of line, but not about to apologize.

"Lucas, it's not as if I wasn't aware of your misogynistic tendencies," she begins calmy. But let me just enlighten you for a moment. If this were two male CEO's and young male cub reporter, you wouldn't even consider anything untoward was going on," Cat challenges.

He shrugs. "Cat, you've known me a long time. I call them how I see them. Now, Danvers isn't the innocent rube that she purports to be. It's an act. I know it and you know it," he declares before leaving abruptly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Her exclusive from Cat created quite the buzz in the morning editorial meeting. Not to mention the rumors surrounding a loud conversation between Cat and Snapper in her office afterward. And although she tries not to hear them, the comments whispered among her fellow reporters have been difficult to ignore, which is why she is now hiding in her secret office working on the vigilante story.

She's attempted to contact each person on the suggested contact list, but it's not getting her anywhere. Frustrated, she picks up the phone to call the one person who isn't on the list.

"Hey," James answers.

"Hey," Kara replies in return. "Uh, do you have a minute to talk?" She asks.

"Sure, what's up?" James replies.

"I have a new assignment and I wanted to ask you a few questions," Kara begins. "Off the record," she adds quickly.

"Off the record, Kara. Are you calling me as a reporter?" He questions suddenly concerned.

"Not exactly. You left an assignment pitch on Guardian. Cat found it and gave it to Snapper, who has assigned it to me," she explains.

"Oh," he says expelling a heavy sigh. "I deleted that file, she couldn't have just found it," James blurts out.

"I was given a printed copy of it," Kara informs him.

"What are you going to do? You can't... I mean you won't, will you?" He asks worriedly.

"Of course I won't," Kara replies brusquely. "That's why I'm calling you. What the hell were you thinking James? Why would you even write this pitch?"

"I-I was frustrated that Carr was ignoring Guardian. It was something that I was going to write, myself," he replies.

"James, you told me that I couldn't use Supergirl as a source, yet you were planning to write a story on this?" Kara blurts out angrily.

"No, no. I wasn't," he argues. "I was just trying to draw attention to something being ignored in the media in general," he points out. "What, um, Kara what are you going to write?" James asks.

"Honestly James, I don't know yet. I-I just thought you should know that's all," she says tiredly before ending the call.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Between changing jobs and having family in town, I lost a week of writing. And with the new job, I don't have as much time to write, so posting will be a little slower than normal until I get adjusted to the new schedule.   
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Frustrated after spending another hour trying to track down the people that she's supposed to interview for the Guardian story, Kara decides that she needs to check in with Cat.

"Do you have a minute?" Cat reads the IM and smiles, she is actually surprised that it's taken Kara this long to reach out after everything that happened this morning.

"Yes," Cat types quickly.

"Would you mind coming by my office?" Kara asks in the next message.

Cat takes a moment to finish what she was working on before heading out.

"Ms Teschmacher, I'm stepping out for a moment," Cat pauses to inform her assistant before walking across the bullpen. She pauses at the stairwell and turns around, sure enough everyone's heads swivel instantly back to their computers. Satisfied that she's in the clear, Cat lets the door shut without entering and then heads down the hall to Kara's office.

"Kara?" She says softly before opening the door.

The door pops open and Kara glances down the hallway, before placing one hand on Cat's arm and the other on her back to guide her inside the office.

Cat glances down at Kara's hand, surprised by the contact.

Kara flushes and removes her hand. "Sorry."

"No one saw me," Cat answers the unasked question. "I gather that you have heard the gossip and innuendo surrounding my return and your exclusive and you're hiding from them?" Cat questions worriedly.

"I'm not hiding, I just needed to focus and all the whispering in the bullpen was distracting. Besides there's always been gossip about us," Kara remarks, as she gestures for Cat to take a seat on the couch.

"I knew that they talked about me, but I wasn't aware that there was gossip about us," Cat says sitting down carefully. "When did that start?" She asks.

"Since I lasted longer than any other assistant and then again after the promotion," Kara replies dismissing the topic with a wave of her hand. "Cat, I need to ask you something and please don't take it the wrong way. Are you the reason that Snapper assigned me the profile on Guardian?" Kara asks pacing nervously and wringing her hands.

"No, I wasn't even aware that he assigned it yet," Cat answers. "And we're not done discussing this gossip issue, I won't have people thinking that you have received anything from me that wasn't hard earned."

"Speaking of that, so you didn't tell him to assign it to me?" Kara stops pacing for a moment to pose the question.

"No, I simply gave him the printed pitch that I found in my office. I assumed that he had seen it before and I told him that I thought it was interesting and I wanted him to assign it to someone who could handle it without creating more vigilantes," Cat informs her.

"Why Snapper would assign it to me and not someone else, more seasoned?" Kara asks, finally taking a seat on the other end of the couch.

"Why not you Kara? Not only have you been reporting on alien issues, but you have contacts deep within law enforcement and recently you used Supergirl as a source," Cat points out carefully.

When Kara doesn't respond, Cat asks. "Kara, do you know who wrote the pitch?"

"James wrote it," Kara answers warily.

"Really? James never mentioned it to me in any of our discussions. Do you know why he was interested in this vigilante?" Cat is intrigued now. First James doesn't mention this vigilante, yet it's something that he's been following in great detail and there is the matter of his motorcycle. Cat doesn't know much about motorcycles, but she is certain that the one that she saw James riding the other night was unique.

Kara looks away a moment, weighing out what to say next and how to say it. "James thinks that this guy is a hero, but I don't. In fact, I think that this vigilante is reckless and going to get himself killed," she replies honestly.

"Well, I agree with you, that is a distinct possibility and the reason that I am pleased that Snapper assigned you the story," Cat replies. "Why do you think James is so enamored of this vigilante?"

"You should really ask James about that," Kara deflects. "But he mentioned Guardian in a couple of pitch meetings and Snapper shot him down both times, saying that we weren't going to report on this guy because it could encourage others," She adds. "I agreed, which is why I don't understand why he would assign this to me."

"Snapper Carr is no fool. He assigned it to you precisely because you are critical of the vigilante. Another reporter might take this story and write a fluff piece, praising him and inadvertently inspiring more vigilantes, but you won't do that and he knows it." Cat points out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Returning to her office, Cat heads to the bar and pours herself a glass of water before returning to her desk.

"Ms Grant?" Eve says from the doorway; waiting for the media mogul to look up from her computer.

Cat glances up at her assistant acknowledging her, but continues working.

"Mr Olsen sent this over by courier," Eve says setting down a bottle of Balvenie scotch.

"Please send him a thank you note," Cat replies glancing over at the bottle. Then taking another look at it, she realizes that it's a rare bottle of 21 Year Old Balvenie. "On second thought, I'll take care of it myself."

The young assistant nods, but still lingers in the office. Curious Cat glances up at her again.

"Was there anything else?" Cat asks.

"Uh, there were a few messages that came in while you were out. Stephen Waller and Clayton Reilly both requested time on your schedule for tomorrow," Eve informs her.

"Did either of them say what they wanted to discuss?" Cat questions.

"No and I did inform them that was required," she replies nervously because she knows that Cat won't take a meeting with a department head unless there is an agenda.

"I'll take care of it Ms Teschmacher. Schedule them together and in the executive conference room," Cat replies. She is fairly certain what the topic will be and she may as well only have to say it once. "Actually," the CEO adds, "Make the meeting for all department heads across the board."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Late afternoon finds Cat restless. Sitting behind a desk after spending a few months away is making her a bit stir crazy. She glances out and notices that most of the bullpen has emptied out, which makes sense since it is almost 6 pm. Cat stands up and crosses the office.

"Ms Teschmacher, you may go. There isn't anything else that you will be needed for tonight," Cat says dismissing her.

"Are you sure, Ms Grant? I don't mind staying," Eve offers.

"It's not necessary," Cat replies. "Besides, tomorrow looks like it may be a late one," she adds thoughtfully.

Walking back into her office, she decides that a break is warranted. She detours to the side bar and opens the scotch, pouring herself a generous amount, before heading out to the balcony.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I thought that I would find you here," Kara says from the doorway behind her.

"Join me," Cat says turning slightly and holding up her glass. "James sent over a decent bottle of scotch, I think you might even like this one."

"James sent it over today?" Kara questions stepping out onto the balcony.

Cat watches her approach slowly, noting how she seems drawn towards the sunset, her eyes focused on a point in the distance.

"Does that surprise you?" Cat asks still watching her closely.

Kara shakes her head slowly, turning to look at the other woman and flushing a bit when she realizes that Cat is focused on her and not the sunset. "Not really," Kara says shrugging slightly.

"Well, it surprised me. This particular bottle isn't easy to obtain," Cat points out.

"The perks of being friends with a superhero," Kara counters with a laugh.

"Hmm," Cat murmurs wondering if that explains a few of the rare bottles of wine that Kara has managed to surprise her with over the past year.

To hide her nervousness, Kara slips back into the office, returning a moment later with the bottle and another glass. She pours herself a drink, then tops off Cat's, earning herself a small smile of thanks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alex is standing in the lab with her back to the door, studying a printout when Maggie approaches. She pauses at the door, just taking a moment admire her girlfriend. It's not often that she gets to see the scientist instead of the agent.

"These results aren't conclusive, we need more data," Alex says to the technician, who nods to her and then looks over her shoulder to the detective standing outside the lab door.

Realizing that she's been spotted, Maggie stops staring and moves to the doorway.

"Danvers, got a minute?" Maggie asks.

At the sound of her girlfriend's voice, Alex pivots around and smiles.

"For you, always," she says brightly, crossing the lab to greet her with a light hug and kiss on the cheek.

Maggie returns the smile. She is always just a little surprised when Alex kisses her in public especially in front of her coworkers.

"What's up detective?" Alex asks leading her over to her desk so that she can set down the lab reports.

"Well, apparently a reporter from CATCO is writing a story on Guardian and now the director of the vigilante task force has asked the science division to investigate him," Maggie explains, watching Alex's face closely to gauge her reaction.

"Well that makes sense, he could be a meta for all we know about him," Alex replies evenly.

"You think that he's a metahuman?" Maggie repeats the question, curious that this is the first time Alex has mentioned it.

"I don't think he is, but I wouldn't rule it out just yet, there's not enough data on him," Alex adds.

"He's not a meta, I would have picked up on that by now. He's probably just some rich guy who got mugged and thinks he can be the next Batman," Maggie retorts.

"His suit is pretty high tech," Alex replies carefully.

"Which is why I'm going to go talk to Max Lord. If it's not him, he probably made the suit," Maggie points out.

"I'll come with you, I have a little sway when it comes to Maxwell Lord," Alex counters.

"Sway with Lord?" Maggie questions.

"We may have detained him a few times," Alex admits biting her lip.

"Detained him? Oh, so showing up with you will intimidate him," Maggie asks skeptically. "Nah Danvers, I think NCPD can handle this one."

"Oh," Alex says disappointedly.

Maggie steps in closer to her, pulling on the lapels of her lab jacket. "This scientist look is hot, by the way," she murmurs huskily.

"A-are you working late tonight?" Alex stammers, licking her own lips nervously as they stare intently into each other's eyes.

"Unfortunately, I am," Maggie replies softly.

"You could still come by after, I'll be up working on these reports and I'll need a break," Alex says suggestively.

"Hmm, tempting," Maggie says leaning in closer to her.

Alex closes the distance and this kiss is a bit more than a peck, but still manages to be work appropriate.

"Uh Dr Danvers, sorry to interrupt," the tech says from behind her.

Reluctantly pulling away, she turns around to face him. "It's fine Norris," Alex says to him. Then turning back to her girlfriend she adds. "See you later detective?"

"Hope so," Maggie replies smiling at her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Got a minute?" Alex asks when her sister answers her phone.

"Alex what's wrong?" Kara questions worriedly.

"Nothing, I just... do you know that there's a CATCO reporter doing a story on Guardian?" Alex questions.

"Yeah," Kara replies shortly.

"You know but you didn't think to give me a heads up?" Alex asks. "Wait, you're the one writing it?"

"Alex, I can't talk now. But I'll come by later," Kara answers looking over at Cat nervously.

"Come by the DEO, I'm working late tonight," Alex retorts. "And does James know about this?"

"Yes, and don't worry Alex. I've got this," Kara replies confidently.

"Just come by and talk to me. Because now Maggie's investigating him," Alex adds before ending the call.

Kara huffs when she realizes the call ended.

"Everything alright?" Cat asks from across the balcony.

"Uh, yeah," Kara remarks still staring at the phone. "My sister can be so damn impossible sometimes," she adds in frustration.

"Obviously, if it's making you curse," Cat replies teasing her lightly.

Kara turns around to face the media mogul. "I'm not the innocent girl scout that you think I am," she replies with a trace of annoyance.

Cat raises an eyebrow playfully. "Hmm, I am looking forward to getting to know this non-girl scout side of you, Kara."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Winn sits in the van staring at the computer. He could be out with Lyra tonight, but instead he's stuck in the van again playing vigilante with James.

"Security alarm going off at a store at Ninth and Grand," Winn announces. "Just give me a minute to hack into the traffic cameras in that area," he adds.

"Well, I'm not far from there," James replies. "I'll go take a look."

"It's a jewelry store," Winn continues. "Hacking into the store's video feed now, looks like there are two guys inside and two people in a back room hiding from them."

"Okay, pulling up now," James says as he parks the bike in an alley and pulls his shield out of the saddlebag.

"They're smashing the cases and grabbing everything," Winn adds.

James can hear police sirens so he asks, "How far away are the police?"

"Couple of minutes out," Winn replies.

"Looks like they broke in the back door. And I found their getaway car," James says surveying the situation, before pulling a knife off his utility belt and begins stabbing the tires.

"What the hell are you supposed to be?" A man bellows.

James yanks his knife out of the last tire before answering, "I'm Guardian and I'm here to stop you."

"Diggins, what do we do now?" The second robber blurts out.

"We take his bike," the man called Diggins replies, pointing his gun at the vigilante and shooting him.

The shot glances off the suit and Guardian rushes towards both robbers. Diggins dodges out of the way but Guardian is able to disarm his partner and lands a blow that sends the man into the building, practically knocking him out.

Spinning around, James eyes Diggins who is rushing over to the motorcycle.

"Damn, he's going to get away. Winn, can you disable my bike?" James blurts out.

"Yeah, one sec," Winn replies switching over to another laptop.

Diggins is on the bike trying to get it started, when a police car pulls into the alley. The two officers swing their doors open and draw their weapons on him.

The bike roars to life, but before Diggins can take off, the engine cuts out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Deciding that Alex can wait, Kara stayed on the balcony talking with Cat, until they both realized that they should eat. Now the two women are sitting on the balcony at Cat's penthouse eating take out from their favorite Thai place. After exhausting current events and CATCO gossip, their discussion has taken a more personal turn and Kara is explaining how she met Mike, the intern.

"I met Mike a few months ago and he was new to the city and completely lost. I helped him get settled and we spent a lot of time together," Kara explains.

"I see," Cat replies turning a bit to face her. "But you two didn't date?"

"Not exactly. I mean we went out together, but I didn't think that we were dating. I even brought it up a few times, because he was acting weird about me spending time with other people. But he denied it. But then the other night he finally confessed that he does have feelings for me," Kara explains and Cat notes that the lost, lonely look returns to her face.

"If he has feelings for you, then why is he going out with Ms Teschmacher?" Cat asks curiously.

"I don't know and that's why I was sort of shocked to see them together. I am worried that he is just using her, because he's upset with me," Kara answers. "I told him that I didn't feel the same way," she adds.

Cat takes another sip of her drink. Secretly, she is relieved that Kara wasn't taken in by this Mike person.

"He's been avoiding me, which is understandable. I just feel, I don't know, guilty maybe?"

"Guilty? Kara you have nothing to be guilty about," Cat points out.

I know and then the other night after work, I went to the bar where he works and made things worse. In trying to let him down easily, I mentioned that I would never date someone like him. He misunderstood, I think that he thought I meant because he is a bartender. He got mad and wouldn't let me explain. Cat, I don't care that he's a bartender, not really. It's more that we don't have much in common beyond social stuff. I mean, he doesn't care about the things that I care about," she tries to explain.

"Kara, it is important to be with someone who shares your interests and concerns, or at the least respects them," Cat points out. "You don't have to apologize for wanting that."

"I know, but it still feels selfish. I like him as a friend and I worry that I somehow led him on or something," Kara confesses.

"Oh Kara, you're too nice and when you're too nice to men, they often feel led on, but that doesn't mean that you did anything wrong," Cat points out.

"I was being so careful, as soon as I thought that he was having feelings for me, I asked him about it but he denied it," Kara counters. "I just don't understand why this keeps happening to me. First Winn and now Mike. I don't know, is this normal, uh, maybe it's me. Maybe I'm not normal, I thought that I wanted to date James, but as soon as we got together, it felt wrong." She exclaims dramatically not daring to look directly at the other woman.

"Kara, you are definitely not normal," Cat replies causing the girl to whip her head up to challenge that assumption. "You have a way of seeing the best in people and inspiring them to be better. So these young men are attracted to you because of how you make them feel about themselves. And they haven't really even bothered to get to know you," Cat points out angrily.

Kara blinks rapidly, as she tries to comprehend what Cat is trying to say.

"Seeing the best in people makes me not normal?" Kara asks.

"Normal is overrated, Kara. But my point is that, the way that you do it, is inspiring, I'll give you an example. When you first started working as my assistant, no matter how difficult I could be, you persevered. You didn't react to my often mean and petty comments, instead you rooted out the underlying causes. Even when it got tough, you didn't quit trying to figure out what was wrong and you did it in a way that challenged me to be better. It was irritating at first, but then I realized that you were challenging me on the same things that I knew needed to be improved," Cat confesses. "Kara, I am not easy to change, but you changed me."

Kara's breath hitches, Cat said those exact same words to Supergirl months ago.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Well, looks like your response time is faster that ours, again," Detective Sawyer quips as she approaches the helmeted figure.

"Well, I was in the area. Just, uh, glad that I could help," Guardian says in his low guttural whisper.

"I hear they got a shot off," the detective remarks looking at his suit and noting a dent in the shoulder piece.

"Suit is bulletproof," Guardian replies nonchalantly.

The detective examines him more closely, noting details of his suit. After a moment, her attention turns to the motorcycle. "Nice bike," she says walking over to admire it.

"Thanks," he says hesitantly, a little worried at the attention. "Uh, am I free to go now?" He asks.

"Yes, you are free to go," Sawyer answers. "But Olsen, I'd rethink this vigilante thing if I were you, your suit might be bulletproof now, but trust me, the bad guys will figure out how to fight you and you will end up hurt or worse," she says stepping in close to him.


	7. Chapter 7

"You never really told me what happened between you and James," Cat prompts her. They've moved inside to the couch and Cat's on her third glass of wine.

"That's because nothing happened," Kara shrugs. "We tried to go out twice, but the first time I was held up at CATCO and forgot to call him. The second time, he came to my apartment with pizza and potstickers so that we could watch the Venture launch. So you know how that date ended."

Cat purses her lips but doesn't comment, waiting for the girl to continue.

"And it was obvious that James and I were in two completely different places in our lives. And with all the changes, it just seemed like we weren't connecting and then you promoted him to CEO, which was great for him. But I couldn't be that person. I mean with all the rumors about you and me, then James is promoted. Well you know what that would look like," Kara explains.

"The rumors about us... so what were they exactly?" Cat questions.

Kara flushes a little and reaches over for a pillow pulling it into her lap defensively.

"Y-you don't want to know. Actually, I am sort of relieved that you don't know," Kara admits.

"That bad huh?" Cat asks rhetorically. "Well it can't be any worse than what was said about me when I started out as Perry White's assistant," she adds with grin.

"I just didn't expect people to say things like that about me or you," Kara confesses as she shivers at the memory of the mean spirited comments from earlier today.

"People can be terrible, especially when they are jealous of someone else's success," Cat points out.

"I work really hard. And they don't even know me," Kara protests.

"The things that they say, say more about them then it does about us," Cat counters.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alex flinches at the sound of the sharp knock on the door.

"Hey," Alex says worriedly as she opens the door to reveal a pissed off Maggie Sawyer. The tersely worded text was Alex's first clue that tonight's visit by her girlfriend wasn't what she was hoping for.

"Olsen is Guardian," Maggie blurts out as she enters the apartment.

"Oh," Alex replies carefully. "How did you... How did you find out?"

Maggie stops taking off her jacket and glares at her girlfriend a moment, before huffing. "I can't believe you. You knew!" She argues and puts her jacket back on. "Alex, you knew that Olsen was Guardian and yet, you were going to let me go interview Maxwell Lord?"

"It wasn't my secret to tell," Alex replies weakly. Holding out a hand asking her to stop and not leave.

The detective scoffs. "Is Guardian working at the DEO too?"

"No, he isn't working with the DEO," Alex answers. "Maggie, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you. You figured out Kara so easily, I knew that it wouldn't take long for you to sort this out too. So, um, what made you realize that it was James?"

"His penchant for customized motorcycles tipped me off. The customizer signed both bikes, I'm sure that Olsen doesn't even realize it, but he should have one of them removed. Oh and he should get a voice modulator for his helmet, that gravelly whisper is as bad as Kara's glasses." Maggie answers proudly, letting go of some of her anger.

Alex notices it and reaches out to finger her jacket, "Maggie, don't go away angry. I want us to talk about this tonight."

Maggie exhales and then shakes her head. A small smile sneaks across her lips. She takes off her jacket this time and drapes it over the chair.

Alex steps closer to her as Maggie turns around to face her. "Can I kiss you hello now?" She asks tentatively.

Maggie leans in and presses a light kiss to her lips. "Hi."

"I hate when you're mad at me," Alex murmurs against her lips.

"Honestly, Alex I'm not mad at you. But I am annoyed when you don't tell me things like this. You do realize that I was headed to Lord Tech before I was called out to the scene of Guardian's latest heroics," Maggie replies taking her girlfriend into her arms.

"Well Max is out of town, so you wouldn't have been able to talk to him..." Alex says nonchalantly.

"Jesus Alex!" Maggie exclaims backing away from her girlfriend. "You are un-fucking-believable!" She grumbles before snatching her jacket off the chair and storming out of the apartment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So tell me what happened with this Mike fellow?" Cat prompts her next.

"Mike was nice to look at, but not really interesting or interested in me. I mean, it always felt like he was just waiting for me to stop talking, but not really listening to me," Kara explains. "I think that it's easier to just not date at all rather than settle for someone who is attractive but not my equal," Kara remarks.

"Hmm, perhaps you have been paying attention," Cat teases her.

"Ugh, I didn't mean that the way it sounded," Kara adds embarrassed by the arrogance of her own admission.

"There's nothing wrong with what you stated, Kara." Cat admonishes lightly.

"My sister would have a field day with that statement," Kara replies sheepishly. "Sometimes I feel like you are the only one who understands me."

Cat's breath hitches at Kara's admission. It is possible that the girl doesn't even understand what she has said yet. "Well Kara, over the past several years that we have spent working together so closely, we have gotten to know each other's secrets," Cat remarks.

Kara sets down her own glass and fidgets nervously. "Secrets," she repeats, taking a deep breath.

"Don't." Cat says softly as if she knows what the girl is going to say.

"You deserve for me to say it," Kara insists.

"No. No I don't," Cat remarks. "And I understand why you don't trust me."

"It was never about trust. I trust you completely with this," Kara asserts.

"My initial reaction was not my best moment," Cat admits.

"You were caught off guard. I was too. I didn't think that you saw me at all. But then you did and I freaked out," Kara recalls.

Cat looks at her stunned. How could Kara think that Cat didn't see her. Did she really treat the girl that poorly?

They sit a moment in the silence of the last remark. Kara wondering what she said and Cat wondering how to respond.

"I've always seen you Kara," Cat murmurs softly, causing Kara to look up at her hopefully.

"And it's not like you are the first person to tell me that you felt invisible to me, I have two ex-husbands who would agree with you," she adds sarcastically.

"Don't do that. Cat, I was just your assistant," Kara replies attempting to assuage the CEO's guilt.

"You haven't been 'just my assistant' in a long time," Cat retorts fidgeting nervously with her wine glass.

Unsure of what Cat means by that remark, Kara takes a moment to consider how to respond. Biting her lip nervously, she makes a decision. "My real name is Kara Zor-El."

"Why now?" She manages to ask after a stunned moment, her heart threatening to pound out of her chest.

"Because I need you to know me," Kara replies, before taking off her glasses and setting them on the coffee table.

"Okay," Cat replies nervously taking a long look at the woman sitting beside her.

Kara pulls out her ponytail and runs her hand through her hair.

"I've spent too many years hiding who I am and I think that you understand that, maybe more than anyone else," Kara continues. "Yesterday wasn't my birthday, Cat. It was the anniversary of my arrival here."

"W-when is your real birthday?" Cat asks the obvious question, still processing that Kara is revealing herself to her.

"I don't have one here. Time doesn't work the same way here as it did where I am from," Kara answers carefully.

"You were adopted at 13, so that was 13 years ago?" Cat asks not wanting to ask her age outright.

"No actually," Kara answers. "I was 13 years old when my cousin was born and we were sent here."

"I've known your cousin for almost 15 years," Cat exclaims in confusion, "How is it possible that you are older than him?"

"I-I lost everything when my parents sent me here. I lost them, my cousin, my planet and I even lost years of my life stuck in space when my pod was knocked off course," Kara explains sadly.

Cat moves closer to her. "Kara," she says softly. "Kara, I had no idea."

"I was sent here to take care of him, which seems crazy now. How could a 13 year old girl take care of infant? I mean, my parents had no idea how things worked here on earth," Kara remarks lightly.

"You really do trust me with this," Cat comments tearfully.

"Completely." Kara replies firmly.

"Kara, how old are you?" Cat can't refrain from asking any longer.

"I was in stasis for about 20 years, if I had landed on time, I would be 46 in Earth years," Kara admits.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How did Detective Sawyer find out that I am Guardian?" James asks. He has been sitting outside Alex's apartment for over an hour waiting for her to leave for work the next morning.

"Morning to you too, Olsen," Alex replies sarcastically. "She's a detective. She figured it out."

"What should I do?" He asks.

"Nothing. She's not going to out you. But what the hell are you doing? You quit CATCO?" Alex questions.

"It was just a distraction," James blurts out.

"So what's your plan? Are you going to be a full-time vigilante now?" Alex asks standing in front of her government SUV.

"Something like that," James answers. "So you really didn't tell her?"

"No and believe me, I wish that I had. She is beyond pissed at me right now," Alex admits before opening the door and slipping into the driver's seat. "Look, just lay low for a bit and let things die down," she advises.

James steps back and watches her drive away. Then pulling out his phone he sends a quick message to Kara.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kara is already tucked into her office and writing when her phone beeps. She glances over at it and sees the message from James asking her to call him.

"Hey," she says when he answers. "Don't worry about the article. I am working with NCPD, apparently they are starting a vigilante task force."

"I heard. Did you tell Detective Sawyer about me?" James blurts out.

"Of course not, why? Does she know?" Kara asks.

"Yes, she knows," James says heavily into the phone.

"Well, she figured me out. It makes sense that she'd figure you out too," Kara points out.

"Wait, she knows that you're Supergirl too?" James questions.

"Yeah, but I don't think that you have to worry. She wouldn't do anything to jeopardise her relationship with my sister," Kara counters.

"Then you obviously haven't talked to Alex today," James replies.

"Not yet. Wait, you have? What's going on?" Kara asks quickly.

"I'm sure she'll tell you later. Just keep me posted on the vigilante task force, okay?" He asks ending the call.

Kara stares at the phone in her hand and sighs heavily. She had planned to avoid talking to Alex today until she had time to sort out her conversation with Cat from last night. Alex isn't going to be happy when she finds out that Cat knows everything.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cat glances around the conference room at all of her department heads, satisfied that everyone is here, she nods to her assistant that she can leave.

"I am positive that by now, you all know that James Olsen resigned as interim CEO and I have returned," Cat states and is immediately greeted with murmurs of appreciation.

"It is good to be back, but there will be many changes. Some of you will be taking on new responsibilities," she continues. "While others," Cat glares at Steven and Clayton, "Others may find the changes to be less challenging."

The CEO picks up the remote and clicks a few buttons to reveal the new CATCO organization chart. The room goes quiet as each department head gleans the chart for the changes to his/her department.

"I may have been away for the past few months, but I was not out of touch. Many of you rose to the occasion, showed initiative and you have been rewarded. My assistant will be scheduling one on ones with each of you. I will outline your new responsibilities personally," Cat explains. "The rest of you may want to step up your game, or polish up your resumes."


	8. Chapter 8

Back in her office, Cat is writing a detailed email to Brenda in HR, explaining the changes that she wants to make in the CATCO severance packages. Anticipating that there will be considerable fallout from the meeting, she fully expects to be firing a few people by the end of the week.

Just as she hits send, her phone chimes with a incoming message. Cat glances at the message to see who it's from and she smiles to see that it's from Kara and not a board member.

"Heading back to the office. Latte?" Kara asks.

"Not unless you're getting something for yourself. Good interview?" Cat sends.

"Yes, but I need to talk to Snapper about it," Kara types.

Cat can't help but smile at the turtle emoji Kara used in place of Snapper's name.

"Let me know how that goes." Cat sends in reply, smiling to herself until she hears loud voices out in the bullpen.

"Mr Waller!" Eve Teschmacher exclaims as she tries to block his entry into Cat's office.

"Let him enter," Cat calls out calmly from behind her desk, hitting her panic button to summon security just in case. She thought that it would be Reilly not Waller to pull a stunt like this.

"Your assistant said that you wouldn't meet with me," Waller bellows as he storms past said assistant.

"Your schedule is full..." Ms Teschmacher says following him into the room.

Cat waves her off and nods for her to leave.

"My schedule is full this week Mr Waller," Cat replies sharply. "Ms Teschmacher will schedule you for early next week."

"This can't wait until next week. I need to know what I did to warrant this reduced role," Waller presses. "I've worked here since the beginning, Cat," he reminds her.

"I am well aware Mr Waller of how long you've been here. But I've recently become aware that you are not quite as invested in CATCO as you once were," Cat responds, laying out a few screenprints from Twitter.

"How did you get these? You searched my computer?" Waller blurts out indignantly.

"Technically it is my computer. It is the property of CATCO, Mr Waller and imagine my surprise today when IT showed me how you are spending your office hours," Cat replies smugly. "Now he memes of me were bad enough," she adds laying out a few of the ones she printed, "but then I find out that you are one of the worst trolls on the Supergirl Twitter account." She lays down the last of the screenprints, still exhibiting total control, despite her heart pounding as the man towers over the desk glaring at the documents.

"You had no right to monitor my social media accounts," he snaps angrily.

"That would be true, except for the fact that you used your CATCO computer to access your accounts. Now correct me if I am wrong, but I am positive that you are aware of CATCO policy on accessing personal accounts on work computers and during work hours," Cat reminds him, as she knows that he was on the team that updated the policy and rolled it out.

"But I am a department head!" He protests loudly.

"Were actually," Cat corrects him, then nodding to Security to enter, she adds, "Mr Waller, this little stunt is grounds enough for dismissal, now security will escort you back to your office to collect your personal belongings... photos, keys, wallet. And Brenda from HR will be in touch tomorrow, she will arrange to have your office sorted and any remaining personal items delivered to your home."

Waller flinches as the two guards move to stand on either side of him. "You'll regret this," he promises as they escort him out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kara is entering the building when Waller is escorted past her still arguing with the security guards.

"What happened?" She asks the guard at the desk.

"Apparently, he stormed into Ms Grant's office and she fired him," the guard replies. "But you didn't hear that from me," she adds with a wink.

"He seems really angry," Kara points out worriedly.

The guard considers Kara's remark a moment. "I'll check with Monty and see if he's alerted NCPD," the guard remarks picking up her phone.

Kara heads to the stairwell, then using her x-ray vision she looks up to see if anyone is on the stairs. Once she's sure that it's clear, she takes off and flies straight up landing carefully. Taking a moment she straightens her jacket and smooths out her hair, before walking out of the stairwell to check on Cat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ms Grant?" Kara says entering the office, but not seeing the CEO. Turning she spots her sitting outside on the balcony.

Opening the door, she asks, "I just heard about Steve. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Cat assures her former assistant. But Kara can see the tumbler of scotch trembling in her hand.

Kara closes the door and moves to sit beside her.

Cat clears her throat and turns to her. "Um, don't you have a meeting with Snapper?"

"Yes, but when I saw Steve being taken out by security I wanted to check on you," Kara explains. "I've never seen him like that before."

"I suspected something was off with him, but I had no idea that he was that volatile," Cat replies taking another sip of her drink. "Has the bullpen settled down yet?"

Kara pauses a moment to listen. "I think so," she answers, then frowns. "Damn, I need to go, Snapper is looking for me."

"You can honestly hear him on the fifth floor from here?" Cat inquires.

Kara smiles at her. "You don't even want to know what I can hear if I'm not careful," she replies with a grin.

"I can just imagine," Cat says with a small smile of her own. "Kara, thank you for coming up to see after me."

"Always," Kara promises, then reaches over and gives her arm a quick squeeze. "Let me know before you leave for the day?

Cat nods in agreement, although the thought of heading home to the empty penthouse after this encounter is less than appealing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I met with John Ward, he's in charge of the NCPD Vigilante Task Force. Apparently there are at least fourteen active vigilantes right now in National City and he's worried that if we begin profiling them, it will encourage more," Kara explains.

"Okay, so what did he give you?" Snapper asks gruffly.

"He gave me crime stats. These are before and after Supergirl's arrival. Vigilantes tend to interrupt petty crimes with varying degrees of success, while Supergirl has impacted and reduced major crimes, like bank robberies and she's helped capture a record number of metahumans and rogue aliens," Kara informs him as she hands over each file.

"You get any quotes to go along with these?" Snapper grumbles the question as he drops the files on his desk.

"Yes, I'll transcribe the interview before I leave today. Do you want to review it first?" The young reporter asks holding up her phone which has the recorded interview.

"No, go ahead. Just send me your notes and we'll write this one together tomorrow. I want to show you how to pull this together and format it," Snapper explains.

"Oh," Kara squeaks out a bit surprised. She thought that he was going to take it from her altogether. "I'm on it Chief," she replies brightly.

He walks around to sit back down at his desk and realizes that the girl is still standing there grinning like an idiot.

"Danvers, go. Now." He snaps without looking up at her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That afternoon Kara splits her focus between transcribing the interview and listening to Cat in her office. She's so focused that she doesn't hear her phone ringing until Clarissa tosses a pen at her.

"Danvers, phone!" Clarissa barks.

"Hey Alex," Kara says answering the phone quickly.

"Hey," Alex replies back and immediately Kara can tell that something is wrong. She suddenly remembers her earlier conversation with James.

"What's wrong?" Kara asks.

"Uh, Maggie and I had a fight last night and she's not talking to me right now. How do you apologize for omitting information because of work?" Alex asks sincerely.

"She probably has to do the same thing with you, maybe point that out to her?" Kara suggests hopefully.

"No, that won't work in this situation. Maybe I just need to give her some space right now," Alex admits.

"Do you want me to talk to her?" Kara asks. "I kind of wanted to call her about this guy who threatened Cat today."

"Who threatened Cat?" Alex inquires.

"A disgruntled employee, and get this, he was one of the guys trolling Supergirl on Twitter," Kara informs her sister.

"One less Twitter troll is always good," Alex sighs.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Little Danvers, let me guess you're either calling on behalf of your sister or because of the guy that got fired from CATCO today," Maggie quips into the phone.

"Uh, you already know about Steve Waller?" Kara asks.

"Yeah, your head of security and I go way back. Monty called me a few hours ago and gave me a heads up. I passed it on to the captain and there will be regular patrols around Cat Grant's place tonight," Maggie informs her.

"Oh, well thanks. That means a lot to me and I'm sure Ms Grant will appreciate it too," Kara exclaims.

"You're welcome. Now anything else?" Maggie asks closing her eyes as she waits for Kara to ask.

"No, not unless you have something you'd like to talk about," Kara retorts.

"Ha, interesting strategy. Did your sister tell you to try that?" Maggie questions sharply.

"No. I just thought maybe you would want to talk. I've been in your shoes before. It sucks when Alex lies to you. I know, she lied to me for years about her job," Kara points out.

"Yeah, I get it. I mean, I have the same problem, but I don't lie so much as I hold back information," Maggie counters. "She actually lied to me Kara. And it could have affected me on the job."

"I'm sure that she didn't realize that," Kara suggests.

"Well, I almost stormed into Lord Tech and made an ass of myself but thanks to your buddy James', I ended up investigating his latest vigilante stunt," Maggie grouses.

Kara gasps a minute. "What?" She asks.

"Save it Kara. I know all about Guardian, another thing your sister failed to share with me," Maggie retorts angrily.

"Maggie, we both told James to tell you, but he wouldn't listen. He thought that you would report him," Kara explains.

"I won't report him until I have proof that he's the vigilante," Maggie concedes.

"Alex hates keeping things from you," Kara interjects.

"Look, just let her know that I need some space right now and I'll call her," Maggie says ending the call without saying goodbye.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cat looks up from her desk as Supergirl lands on the balcony.

"This a surprise," Cat quips sarcastically as she opens the door to greet the hero.

"I'm here to escort you home, Waller won't try anything if he knows that I am protecting you," Kara points out.

"I don't disagree," Cat replies before sighing. "However, Supergirl providing me personal protection is only going to draw more attention to the situation. Perhaps Kara Danvers could accompany me home instead," she counters crossing back to her desk and letting the hero follow her.

Kara swirls around and instantly is back into her Kara Danvers wardrobe.

Cat glances up and shakes her head. "Well, that explains a lot," she quips. "I would love to know how you do that and where did the suit go?"

Kara sighs, she should have realized not to do that in front of her. "Uh, are you going to be ready to go soon?" Kara asks impatiently, she won't relax until Cat is tucked into her penthouse safe and sound.

"Almost," Cat replies opening up her laptop and clicking on a few things.

"What are you doing now?" Kara asks.

"Right now, I am deleting the video of Supergirl entering via my balcony and then spinning into Kara Danvers," Cat informs her. "You should know that I had new cameras installed this afternoon and the footage writes to a backup drive every 15 minutes."


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy to report that my workload is easing up and I'm beginning to have more time to write. Thank you all for patiently waiting for updates. xoxo, Madly
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maggie is sitting in her living room trying to find something to watch on TV. It figures that she finally has an evening off and she's too mad at Alex to spend it with her. Pointing the remote at the tv, she brings up the queue on her DVR to look for something to watch. Before she can decide, she is interrupted by a knock at her door. Sighing, she drops the remote onto the table and stands up.

Crossing the room, she takes a moment to prepare herself, certain that it's Alex on the other side. She takes a deep breath and adjusts her gaze to unimpressed and annoyed before opening up the door to glare at her girlfriend.

"I'm an idiot," Alex blurts out as soon as the door opens.

Well, that's a good start, the small brunette thinks as she opens the door wider and prompts, "And..." as she waits for the other woman to enter.

"And you have every right to be mad at me," Alex continues. "Maggie, I'm sorry that I don't know how to do this. You're my first relationship since college and I'm still figuring it out. Please talk to me, I don't want to lie to you," she pleads as she enters the other woman's apartment.

The smaller brunette takes a breath and exhales slowly as she process the apology. "Alex, then don't lie to me. There are going to be times when we can't tell each other things, but we don't have to lie," Maggie points out. Her arms are crossed but she doesn't seem as angry as before.

"So if I had just told you that it wasn't Max, you wouldn't push me to tell you who it was?" Alex counters hopefully.

"No, I probably would have pushed for you to tell me who it was," Maggie concedes, stepping closer to her. "But you could have told me that you knew and couldn't tell me," she adds.

"Okay," Alex says considering that response.

The two women take a moment to consider each other, before Alex breaks the silence.

"For the record, I told James to tell you himself," she informs her before reaching out and pulling the brunette into her arms.

Maggie allows herself to relax into Alex's arms before responding with a sigh.

"I hate that he is going to get hurt or worse," Maggie mumbles into her hair.

"I know. Kara and I both have discussed it with him," Alex says pulling away slightly. "I guess I understand where he is coming from though, it is hard to sit on the sidelines and watch Kara putting herself on the line," Alex admits.

"Why do you think he's doing it? Is it to get her attention?" Maggie questions pulling back a little to see her girlfriend's face.

"I don't think that's it. You know we used to joke that he was a cape chaser, first Superman, then Supergirl, but maybe he has cape envy instead," Alex jokes.

"Hmm," Maggie murmurs, standing up on her toes to kiss the other woman. "I missed you," she admits softly.

"I was trying to give you space, like you asked, but then I remembered that you had tonight off and I really wanted to see you and apologize face to face," Alex confesses.

"I'm sorry that I got so angry last night," Maggie apologizes and pulls her over to the couch to sit down. "It was a really frustrating night and then finding out that you had added to it by not being honest with me... well, it pissed me off," she explains sitting down beside her.

"I get it and believe me when I say that I will try not to make that mistake again," Alex promises taking her hand and kissing it lightly.

Maggie's only response is to slip her other hand into Alex's hair and pull her closer to deepen the kiss.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"It's not up for discussion, this isn't Livewire. Steve Waller is just a man. And I have pissed off more than my share of men over the years," Cat reminds her. "He'll be mad, hold a grudge. Probably troll me on Twitter, which he probably already does." Her voice sounds unimpressed and calm, but Kara knows that the media mogul's pulse rate is still higher than normal. Although it could be that she is annoyed at the conversation surrounding her safety, but Kara can't let it go. Now that Cat is back in her life and knows her identity, the hero needs her to be safe.

"Well, if it's not up for discussion and you are not going to bring in additional security, then I'm staying," Kara answers defiantly. Afterall, she would do this for any of her friends and family if they were in the same situation, she reminds herself.

Cat sighs. Not because she wants to be alone tonight, because she doesn't. And with Carter at his father's until the weekend, she would love to have the company. Cat begins to protest but Kara stops her.

"Staying," Kara repeats firmly.

A slight smirk on Cat's face indicates that she recognizes that they are at an impasse reminiscent of when Kara was trying to get Cat to leave the last time Livewire escaped.

"Fine," Cat replies flatly. "I'm going to change into something more comfortable," she adds.

"I should probably head out and get my nightly patrol done," Kara replies. "You'll be okay, while I'm gone?"

"Yes, yes. I'll be fine," Cat replies feigning annoyance, before adding, "Be safe Supergirl."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kara lands on the balcony with a soft thud. Her patrol of the city allowed her to make sure that Steve Waller wasn't lurking anywhere nearby lying in wait for Cat. Taking a moment, she listens for Cat and realizes that the other woman is in her home office. Entering the french doors and closing them softly behind her, Kara spins out of her supersuit and back into her other clothes before checking the doors and windows and setting the alarm.

At the door to Cat's office, Kara pauses. The CEO is curled up on the small couch, glasses askew and laptop precariously balanced on the table in front of her.

Quietly, Kara enters and secures the laptop before gently removing the glasses from Cat's face.

"Hmm, You came back," Cat mumbles waking up a bit at the contact.

"Of course. I said that I was staying," Kara reminds her softly.

Cat wakes up and moves to a sitting position. "Kara, why is it so important to you?"

"Not many people know me like you do," Kara answers truthfully.

"Mmm," Cat murmurs, she didn't expect this level of honesty, but she should have known better.

"Cat," Kara says hesitantly. "I-I need you to be safe. Especially now that you know who I am."

"I've always known who you were," Cat reminds her.

"It's different now, you know that," Kara says softly.

"Is it though?" Cat asks rhetorically, sighing heavily.

Unsure of what to do, Kara bites her lip nervously.

"It's fine Kara," Cat adds noticing the indecision and concern on the younger woman's face.

"It's not though, I can tell," Kara replies worriedly, as she watches Cat stand up and stretch lightly. Rising to her feet, Kara hesitates, there are so many things that she wants to say, but she isn't sure if she should. Instead, she just pulls her into her arms and hugs her tightly.

Shocked at first, Cat's body is stiff and Kara is about to pull back and apologize when she feels her relax into the embrace.

Cat pulls the girl closer, nuzzling her face into the long soft blonde tresses, she allows herself a moment to revel in the warmth and strength of Kara's arms.

Without thinking, Kara pulls back to look at her. Cat's eyes are closed, Kara dips her head down and presses a soft kiss to her lips. Green eyes fly open at the contact and for a moment Kara fears that she has overstepped.

"If you're staying... the guest room is across the hall," Cat says softly before leaving the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Kara!"

Cat's voice calling out for her shatters the silence. The hero dashes out of the guest room and into the master bedroom instantly.

As the bedroom door flies open, Kara murmurs, "I'm right here, Cat," as she surveys the room to assess the situation.

"Oh," Cat replies in confusion as she watches the other woman settle onto the edge of the bed.

"Bad dream?" Kara asks softly.

Cat nods, then closes her eyes again taking a moment to let the dream dissipate.

"Cat is everything alright?" Kara asks softly.

"Sorry about waking you up, especially like that," Cat says embarrassedly.

"It's fine, I wasn't really sleeping," Kara admits.

"You do sleep though?" Cat asks curiously.

"Of course, I just don't need as much as you do," Kara answers flushing a bit as she realizes that she can practically see through Cat's lacy nightgown without much effort.

Kara stands up and walks across the room to Cat's reading chair. "If you don't mind, I'll just stay over here until you fall back asleep," she says sitting down.

"That's not necessary," Cat says protesting lightly. "There's no need for you to stand guard, it was just a bad dream Kara."

"Please," Kara pleads, moving to the edge of the chair.

"If you insist on staying, then at least lie down. This bed is big enough for both of us," Cat points out gently patting the bed for effect.

A nervous look crosses Kara's face and Cat is sure that it has to do with the kiss, that she still hasn't acknowledged.

Cat swallows hard. "Okay, the dream was quite disturbing and it would help if you were here, not there," she admits finally.

"Okay," Kara replies moving towards the bed. "If it will help you sleep, I'll stay here," she adds sitting down lightly on the edge of the bed.

"Thank you," Cat remarks with a soft smile. "Thank you for staying."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Waking up the next morning, Cat relishes the warmth of the bed before realizing that she isn't alone in it. Green eyes fly open as she takes in the sight of her bed partner. Kara mumbles softly, but doesn't wake up, instead she pulls Cat even closer. 

Unsure what to do, Cat nudges her softly.

"Kara. Kara, wake up."

"Just a few more minutes," Kara murmurs softly, nuzzling into the other woman's hair.

"Rao!" She blurts out a moment later and scampers away from Cat. "I-I am so sorry, again. I mean, first I kissed you and now, I-I'm just so sorry."

"Kara, it's fine, I didn't mind the kiss," Cat says calmly. "And I believe that I asked you to stay here. In retrospect, I should have pegged you as a cuddler," she quips as she turns to get out of bed.

Kara shrugs slightly embarrassed that she was holding Cat in her arms.

Pulling on her robe, Cat shakes her head and wordlessly heads into her ensuite.

Kara takes a moment to herself to glance around the room, the morning light streaming in the floor to ceiling windows provides a different effect than when she first saw the room last night. Yawning, she sits on the side of the bed and goes through her morning routine of mentally checking in on her family and friends, noting that each heartbeat is strong and steady. 

Hearing the shower turn on, Kara decides to head to the guest room and get ready for the day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The police have not identified the body, but the townhouse is owned by Steven Waller. Mr Waller was in the news recently, as he was escorted from CATCO Worldwide Media yesterday after threatening Cat Grant..."

"No comment means that I am not commenting," Cat snaps as she hangs up the phone.

"What's happening?" Kara asks as she enters Cat's home office and stares at the TV.

"Apparently Steve Waller was found dead by his neighbor," Cat informs her. "And I need to issue a statement or call a press conference, I'm not sure which yet," she adds nodding at the TV screen that has side by side photos of Cat and Waller.

Before Kara can respond, her own phone rings. She looks at the caller id and then exits the room to take the call.

"Alex?"

"Kara, um, where are you right now?" Alex questions. "I'm at the loft and it doesn't look like you were home last night."

"Alex, what is going on? Why are you checking on me?" Kara asks impatiently.

"Maggie asked me to locate you, so where are you?" Alex questions again.

"I'm at Cat's. I stayed here to protect her," Kara answers. "Wait, why does Maggie want to know where I am?"

"They called her in on the Waller case... and this is off the record," Alex replies before continuing. "Whoever killed him last night entered through a balcony door that was unlocked."

"I flew over his place on my last patrol and everything seemed fine," Kara informs her sister.

"Yeah, about that. Apparently, the neighbor saw you fly by and the police want to talk to you," Alex says carefully.

"Why would they... Alex, they think that I had something to do with his death?" Kara blurts out.

Cat stands at the office doorway, she can't believe what she is hearing. She waits for Kara to finish the call before clearing her throat.

"I guess that you heard all of that?" Kara says turning around to face her.

"Yes, it would seem that we have a bit of quandary," Cat remarks.

"What do you mean?" Kara questions, still processing everything.

"Well, security footage will prove that Kara Danvers escorted me home last night, which only gives one of you an alibi," Cat points out.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, it feels so good to have time to write again!  
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Supergirl is not going to be interviewed at NCPD like a common suspect," Alex snaps angrily into the phone.

"Alex, it's okay. I can go there," Kara says softly beside her.

"No. No, you can't. They will extend to you a professional courtesy and they will come here to interview you," Alex retorts as much to her girlfriend on the phone as to the hero standing beside her.

"Okay, okay. I'll work it out with Lieutenant Collins and let you know what time we'll be there, but Alex she needs to stay there," Maggie replies firmly, pushing back. She knows that Alex has slipped into protective sister mode, but as lead detective on the case, she has to pursue every possible suspect, even if one of them is Supergirl.

Angrily Alex hangs up the phone. "I can't believe that NCPD is seriously considering you as a suspect... and Maggie, Maggie of all people..."

"Is just doing her job Alex," Kara interjects. "And it will be fine, I didn't do anything wrong."

"I know that you didn't, but after everything that you've done for this city. And what if Maggie is just doing this to get back at me for lying to her about Guardian and Lord?" Alex blurts out.

"Alex, she wouldn't do that," Kara protests.

"I know, I just hate that she caught this case. But then maybe it's good that she did, because she knows that you didn't do it and she won't let the press find out that you're being questioned," Alex admits.

"The press could still find out," Kara points out.

"I'm guessing that Cat knows that you're here and not at CATCO?" Alex asks worriedly.

"She overheard our conversation this morning," Kara confesses. "But she definitely isn't going to say anything, in fact, she made a statement this morning and didn't mention Supergirl at all," Kara replies. "It should be on the news," the hero adds nodding to the TV on the wall.

Alex picks up the remote and clicks the TV on, changing the channel to CATCO News.

"It has just been confirmed by the authorities that the body found at Steven Waller's townhouse was Mr Waller, no further details have been released by NCPD as this is an ongoing investigation. And while Mr Waller left CATCO under less than pleasant circumstances, we are all shocked and saddened by this turn of events. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this time..." Cat says from the steps of CATCO with Kara standing just behind her.

"You were at the press conference?" Alex remarks with a heavy sigh.

"We were practically ambushed, Alex! Reporters from every local channel were set up at the entrance to the building, she had no choice but to issue a statement," Kara replies defensively.

"I know, I just wish..." Alex's voice trails off as Winn enters the office.

"Hey, I have that data you asked for," Winn says laying a thumb drive on the desk in front of her.

"What data is that?" Kara asks.

"Uh, it's the tracking data that shows Supergirl's patrol route from last night," Winn replies hesitantly, because Kara's face is not a happy face. "D-director Henshaw asked me to set up a way to track you after CADMUS kidnapped you," he adds quickly.

"The DEO is tracking me," Kara blurts out. Her tone full of disbelief and her face a cloud of anger tinged with confusion.

"We did it to protect you," Alex replies quickly.

"Wait, if you're tracking me then why did you go to the loft this morning looking for me?" Kara asks confused.

"We only use it when you don't check in," Alex explains, "Which is why Winn just pulled the data for me, now."

"How does it track me? Did you put something on my suit?" Kara questions, sending Winn a withering glare.

"Kara, it tracks you based on a biometric sequence and has nothing to do with the suit," Alex answers. "Winn was just doing his job, don't. Don't be angry with him. And he made sure that the data is specially encrypted, so even if it was intercepted, it would be useless to anyone."

"Biometric markers? Great, so after everything that we've done to protect my secret identity, now the DEO has created a trail of indisputable evidence that Kara Danvers and I are the same person!" Kara rolls her eyes and angrily storms out of the office. She knows that it is pointless to be angry at Winn and even Alex, because J'onn would have been the one to make this decision and she intends to tell him exactly what she thinks about it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Supergirl," J'onn says as the hero enters his office, cape swishing behind her dramatically.

"Y-you're tracking me..." she begins angrily.

"All DEO assets are tracked, even me," J'onn replies.

"You're tracking yourself?" Kara questions, distracted for a moment by this information. Furrowing her brows even more in thought, she paces the office.

Stopping in front of his desk, she glares at him. "J'onn, if CADMUS were to get a hold of this data..." she adds fiercely.

"Kara, CADMUS has already proven that they can get to you, I have no choice but to do everything that I can to make sure that if it happens again, I can get you back," J'onn says thickly, remembering his promise to Jeremiah. Even if the man has been compromised by CADMUS, the alien has no intention of not honoring the promise he made when Jeremiah saved his life. "And we've taken extraordinary measures to encrypt and protect this data. Even if they get a hold of it, they won't be able to use it," he promises.

"You don't know that," Kara replies. "They used Jeremiah against us, we trusted him and he stole the Alien Registry for them," she reminds him.

"I assure you that, that won't happen again. Agent Schott has reconfigured our system protocols and there are new security features in place to prevent another breach," J'onn informs her.

Kara pauses to pace the office and consider this information.

"Does Kal-El know? Because if you're tracking me, I'm guessing that you are tracking him too," she counters.

"He's not a DEO asset," J'onn replies, pointedly not answering her question.

"But that doesn't mean that you are not tracking him," Kara repeats and waits for confirmation.

"His biometric markers are similar to yours, so yes, we can track him," J'onn admits.

"Well he has a right to know about this," Kara retorts, before storming out of the office.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"This data shows Supergirl's patrol route from last night. As you can see, she did fly over Mr Waller's townhouse last night before she returned to quarters, where she remained overnight," Alex explains, tracing the route with a laser on the map displayed on the screen overhead. She looks around the room, careful not to make eye contact with Kara, who is still angry about the tracking program and this disclosure.

"Where exactly are her quarters located?" Lieutenant Collins questions as he studies the patrol route above them. The DEO redacted all street info, leaving only standard markers to identify key areas of interest.

Maggie refrains from reacting and instead looks over to Alex to wait for her response. The two women know that they are walking a fine line in regards to conflict of interest on this case. If Supergirl's identity were to be revealed, it wouldn't look good on either of them for not disclosing the connection.

"The exact location is not relevant to your case. You wanted to know Supergirl's whereabouts for the last 12 hours and we've provided proof that she was not near the scene after her patrol," Alex asserts.

"Judging by your map of the city, it would appear that Supergirl lives in or very near CATCO Towers," Collins point out.

"As I stated before her exact location is not relevant to this case," Alex reasserts.

Collins nods silently, conceding the point. "Agent Danvers you seem to have some insights into our investigation," Collins says turning to look at Maggie. "Either you know more than you're saying or someone has leaked information to the DEO.

"No one has leaked anything to me, I just..." Alex replies, quickly. Then taking a deep breath, she is about to launch into another rant when Kara interjects.

"It was me. I told Agent Danvers that Waller was alive when I went by on patrol. I saw him dozing on his couch and his heart indicated that he was resting," Kara explains. "And he was alone. I would have noticed if anyone was on the balcony or roof, so whoever killed him would have had to have done it after I left the area."

"You spied on him with your x-ray vision?" Collins clarifies.

"No, his balcony curtains were open, I could see him in there," Kara answers honestly.

"But you didn't enter his townhouse?" Maggie questions, although she already knows the answer.

"No, I was simply making sure that he was in for the evening. He had threatened Ms Grant earlier and I simply wanted to check on him to ensure that he wasn't going to cause any more problems for her," the hero explains.

"You seem rather protective of Ms Grant," Collins points out.

"W-we are close," Supergirl responds, "We've been through alot together."

"Yes, I believe that Grant was kidnapped last year by two meta-humans, Livewire and Banshee, to get to you. In fact, Livewire has a habit of going after Cat Grant and each time, you were the one to save her. So Supergirl, how long have you been involved with Cat Grant?" Collins asks.

"Don't answer that!" Alex blurts out before standing up at the conference table. "This interview is over," she announces.

"You're not in charge of this interview Agent Danvers," Collins replies, standing up slowly and buttoning his suit jacket slowly. "But I think we have what we need for now," he adds motioning to Maggie to lead the way out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I need to talk to Cat," Kara says to her sister as soon as they are alone in the conference room.

"Use this line, it's secure," Alex remarks gesturing to the phone on the table. "I'm going to walk them out and maybe try to talk to Maggie before she leaves," she adds before rushing from the room.

Kara stares at the phone a moment, Although Cat seemed normal around her this morning, even though there was nothing normal about this morning, they still haven't discussed what happened last night. Kara sighs heavily. Then deciding to just get it over with, she picks up the phone and calls her.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Cat Grant," Cat says quickly, waving off Ms Teschmacher to answer her own phone.

"The police think that you are involved with Supergirl," Kara blurts out. "That we are romantically involved."

"Well, that's interesting," Cat replies dryly, dismissing her assistant with a slight nod. "But I am going to need a bit more information," she adds knowing that Kara will realize that she's speaking in front of someone. 

"Apparently, the agency that I work for can track me and they released my patrol route from last night to the police," Kara admits nervously. "It was an overview, but the detectives figured out that I was near CATCO Towers all night."

"I see," Cat replies, her mind already whirling through potential solutions.

"And I'm pretty sure that the police are going to show up at CATCO to question you about me, both of me," Kara adds.

"Well, I expected that they would show up here at some point, and I've kept my schedule light today for that reason," Cat points out. "None of this is your fault Kara."

"I know it isn't my fault, but I seem to have made things more complicated," Kara counters. "I should have protected you by keeping me distance."

I appreciate that you wanted to protect me and I did feel safer having you nearby," Cat confides, before the obvious solution pops into her head.

"Kara, what if I gave Supergirl an apartment in my building as a thank you for saving my life?" Cat inquires.

"Cat, you don't have to do that and I have a loft," Kara protests.

"No, Kara Danvers has a loft. Look, this is the perfect solution and we should have thought of it sooner," Cat retorts. "Supergirl needs a home base and CATCO Towers is perfect, you can come and go from the roof. It would explain why you were nearby all night. And once the police figure out that Kara Danvers was with me last night... well we can't have them thinking that we had a threesome," she quips.

"Cat!" Kara blurts out, slamming her mind shut on the confusing visual inspired by that remark.

"I have a furnished one that I use it for out of town guests, it's just down the end hall from me. Come by tonight and drop off some 'super' things, then if the police pursue this angle, you'll have an address to give them," Cat offers.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maggie follows Collins into the building, still annoyed that he's leading the investigation himself and dragging her along like a damn rookie. And she knows that it is because it's high profile and involves Supergirl, but honestly, she has handled her share of high profile cases.

They are intercepted by security as soon as they cross the lobby.

"Hey Sawyer," the guard says greeting the detective.

"Dan, this is Lieutenant Martin Collins, we're here to ask Ms Grant a few questions, can you take us up?" Maggie asks greeting him like a friend. "Lieutenant, Dan was on the job for ten years before he was recruited by Tom Clarkson, who's Chief of Security here," she adds as ice breaker. Well aware that her boss and Clarkson went through the academy at the same time.

"I remember Tom, and it's good to meet you Dan," Collins says politely. "No offense, but corporate security seems like it would be rather boring to me."

"Dan doesn't look bored to me, he looks fat and happy," Maggie says teasingly.

"It's different, not as intense as patrol, but we have our moments and corporate security pays a bit better than NCPD, but then I wasn't making the big bucks as a detective," Dan teases back as he walks them over to the security desk. "Let me just call up there and make sure that she is available," he says picking up the phone.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ms Grant, the police are here to see you," Ms Teschmacher announces as she enters the office, followed by a tall man and a short dark haired female.

Cat glances up at the pair of detectives and calmly greets them. "NCPD's finest, I presume," she says standing up and crossing the room.

"Lieutenant Martin Collins and Detective Maggie Sawyer," Collins says extending his hand.

Cat waves it off and steps around them to sit on the sofa, gesturing for them to sit across from her on the other one.

"What can I do for you? I understand that you are investigating Mr Waller's death, but the last I saw of him was when he was escorted from my office by security," she remarks as they sit down.

"Yes, we both read your statement, but we have a few questions for you regarding any measures that you may have taken to protect yourself after he was removed from the premises," Maggie says tactfully.

"CATCO security was given standard instructions to detain Mr Waller should he attempt to reenter the building and that a restraining order was being filed, which is also standard procedure, I believe that you may recall that I've had trouble in the past with disgruntled employees. Also standard procedure is for Tom Clarkson, Chief of Security, to notify the security team at CATCO Towers about Mr Waller and provide them his photo and a copy of the protection order. Both are defensive measures on my part and I'm sure that you would agree that those measures are well within my rights to protect myself from the man who threatened me," Cat replies smoothly.

"What about extra security? Did you send anyone out to check on Mr Waller, maybe put him under surveillance as additional protection?" Collins asks.

"It was suggested to me by Mr Clarkson, but I declined that measure of protection," Cat admits.

"What about friends and family? Is there anyone close to you who would have felt that they needed to confront Mr Waller on your behalf?" Collins asks.

"Absolutely not. If I felt that I needed additional security, I certainly have the means to acquire it," Cat snaps indignantly.

"Did you ask Supergirl to monitor Waller?" Collins blurts out, hoping to catch her off guard.

"My understanding is that Supergirl patrols the city day and night, if she flew over Mr Waller's house, I'm certain that it was merely on her patrol route. Although, one couldn't blame her for checking on him, the last employee I pissed off tried to kill me and her," Cat points out carefully.

"Well, that explains everything," Maggie says moving to stand up, hoping to take advantage of Cat's perfect explanation for Supergirl surveilling Waller and get Collins out of there.

But Collins won't be rushed, instead he asks, "How long have you been involved with Supergirl?"

Cat tilts her head, feigning shock at the implication, but not answering the question.

"We know that Supergirl spent the night in the vicinity of your penthouse," Maggie interjects, hoping that Cat will understand what Collins is basing his question on.

"I see. Well let me point out that CATCO Towers is a highrise residential building surrounded by highrise residential buildings. I believe that there are over three thousand residents in the immediate vicinity of my building. And just to help you out, I am not involved with any one of them. You see, I would hate for you to waste resources investigating my social life, when you have a murder case to solve," Cat retorts sarcastically.

"We are not investigating you or your social life," Collins begins to reply, but is cut off.

"Excellent. Well then, if you have any further questions, please call and make an appointment with my assistant," Cat says triumphantly interrupting him and waving Ms Teschmacher into the office from where she was hovering just outside the door. 

"Ms Grant, should I cancel or postpone the editorial meeting?" Eve asks.

"Neither will be necessary, I've answered all of the detectives' questions," Cat replies, effectively letting them know that she's done with the interview.

"Well, I think that we may have everything we need for now, but I'm sure that we'll be back," Collins retorts. "Thank you for you time Ms Grant, we'll see ourselves out."

"I think that Mr Clarkson would prefer to escort you out and answer any additional questions," Cat says as her Chief of Security enters the office.

"Lieutenant. Detective," Clarkson says greeting them. "Right this way, we'll take Ms Grant's private elevator so that we can talk on the way down."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Eve, the next time the police show up, please notify Morton and Stanhope immediately and get them in here. I will not be speaking to the police without counsel again. In fact, have them meet me after this, I need to tell them what is going on. I don't like the tone of this investigation," Cat confides to her assistant.

As Cat gathers her things together for her next meeting, she mentally kicks herself for not listening to Kara's warning about the police investigation. As she makes her way down the hall towards the conference room it occurs to her that she may be a suspect in Waller's death. But if that were true, wouldn't they have requested that she come to them for the interview? Unless, it's not her that they suspect, it's Supergirl.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  _Okay, so I've worked on this chapter for a week trying to figure out how to get to where we're going. I have it worked out now, but my beta is in crunch time at work until next week. So enjoy this chapter any mistakes are mine (as usual) but I will tweak it to fix them (as usual). There should be 3 or 4 chapters left of this one, thanks for reading!_  
>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Danvers," Alex says answering her office phone.

"Agent Danvers," Cat says smoothly into the phone.

"Who is this?" Alex asks confused, because the voice sounds quite familiar, but it can't be who she thinks it is.

"Cat Grant." Comes the slightly annoyed reply.

"Ms Grant, how did you get this number?" Alex questions, because the number to her government issued cell phone is not something even the Queen of all Media should be able to obtain.

"From you," Cat retorts slightly offended that the agent doesn't recall giving it to her the night they spent at the radio station working together to break the Kryptonian thrall caused by Myriad.

"Uh...oh," Alex stammers, "so w-what can I do for you?" She asks, as she struggles to swallow down the sudden memory of fighting Kara in Kryptonite laced exo-suit.

Cat hears the tightness in her voice and waits a moment before continuing.

"What can you tell me, off the record, about the Waller murder investigation," Cat answers.

"What makes you think that I would know anything?" Alex asks pushing back.

Ignoring the agent's remark, Cat continues. "Your girlfriend was just here questioning me. Are you aware that the police consider Supergirl a suspect?"

"Supergirl is not a suspect," Alex blurts out immediately, then adding "H-how do you know that I have a girlfriend?"

"Kara and I are friends, and she may have mentioned that you were dating a police detective. Detective Sawyer seems like she would be your type," Cat asks.

"How would you..." Alex stammers still surprised that Cat would figure that out after meeting Maggie.

"I am an investigative journalist, which you'll find makes me slightly more observant than the average person," Cat replies sarcastically.

"Look Ms Grant, it wouldn't matter if I was dating the police chief, I still wouldn't have access to an NCPD investigation," Alex snaps back at her.

"Then it's a good thing for Supergirl that I have reached out to a source or two of my own at NCPD. Perhaps Agent Danvers, you would like to drop by my office this evening and review some forensics reports," Cat proposes.

Alex sighs heavily into the phone. "You could have started with that," the agent points out.

"I'll have your sister give you the security code to my private elevator," Cat says ignoring her, "See you at 5:30," she adds ending the call.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kara is working in one of the conference rooms at the DEO. She's been investigating Steve Waller, trying to figure out who could have killed him and why.

"What are you working on?" Alex asks sitting down across the table.

"I'm trying to figure out who would want to kill Steve Waller," Kara replies, still focused on her laptop. "Since the police are spending their time investigating me," she adds sarcastically.

"Kara, Maggie knows that you didn't do it and she has people investigating him too," Alex points out.

The blonde reporter looks up at her sister. "I trust Maggie. Alex, I really do but that Lieutenant, he's either anti-superhero or anti-alien, I can tell," Kara counters.

"It will be okay and you're not the only one investigating Waller. Cat Grant just called and wants me to go by her office later," Alex says and waits for her sister's reaction.

"What?" Kara asks frowning at her computer screen. "Oh, right. she asked me to give you the code to her elevator, I didn't even think about it." She mentions as she grabs a post-it and writes down the code and passes it to her sister.

Alex looks at the code a moment before sticking it into the pocket of her shirt.

"Did Cat say why she wanted to meet with you?" Kara asks before turning back to her computer.

"Not exactly, but I think that she has some inside information on the NCPD investigation, which means I am potentially going to piss off Maggie again if I can't tell her about it," Alex points out. Then looking over, she notices Kara studying her laptop, her brow furrowed more than usual. "Did you find something?"

"Yeah, I'm going through some of Waller's Twitter accounts. He trolls a lot of people, mostly women," Kara points out. "Naturally, this has gotten him into several disputes with people. These are fairly heated, there are a lot of threats being thrown back and forth," she adds turning the screen around so Alex can read a few of them.

"It's a good thing that you're an anonymous coward, because if I knew who you were I would hunt you down and cut off your hands," Alex reads aloud. "Uh, maybe have Winn take a look at these..." then reading further, "And send this to NCPD, they definitely should take a look at these."

"Do you think that Maggie will be upset that I'm investigating it?" Kara asks worriedly.

"No, it makes sense given your connection to Cat Grant and the fact that you are a reporter at CATCO. She would only get upset if you didn't give this information and investigated it yourself," Alex points out standing up to leave.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Sawyer," Maggie says answering her cell phone, noting that it's a blocked call.

"Hey Maggie," Kara squeaks into the phone.

"Uh, I'm kind of busy right now," Maggie says worried that Kara's calling to complain about the interview, she heads out into the hall to get away from her coworkers.

"Well, I was doing some research on Waller and I might have found something," Kara says hesitantly.

"Oh, well what is it that you found?" Maggie asks changing gears, she could use a break on this case.

"Well, you know that part of why Waller was fired was that had anonymous Twitter accounts and he used them to troll people, but mostly the Supergirl and Ms Grant accounts. Anyway, late yesterday, he was outed on Twitter, the other user identified him and linked the story of him being fired from CATCO to the anonymous Twitter accounts," Kara informs the detective.

"Kara, people on social media tend to be all bark and no bite, but send me all the Twitter handles and I'll have our analyst look into it," Maggie replies hopefully.

"Maggie, there are a lot of threats on here. I've made some screenshots, just in case they get taken down. And a few of the more vocal ones appear to come from people here in National City," Kara points out.

"Okay, well send me everything you've got," Maggie requests.

"Would it be okay if I send it through Tom? I don't know if it's a good idea for me to be the official source of this information," Kara confides carefully.

"Right, well I'll just log this as an anonymous call then, but could you at least give me his Twitter handles and I'll get an analyst working on it right away," Maggie replies understandingly. Hanging up the phone, she smiles brightly and with any luck this is the break they need to solve this case.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alex sits in her SUV in the CATCO Visitor's lot. Cat had a copy of the forensics report and the official cause of death is a heart attack, but there was evidence of forced entry from the balcony, and evidence of a slight struggle. In addition, a neighbor reported being awoken by an angry woman's voice yelling at Waller. When the neighbor approached Waller's front door, he distinctly heard a woman's voice tell him that he was a cowardly troll who didn't deserve to breathe the same air as Cat Grant. The neighbor returned to his own apartment, called 911 and then returned with a key to Waller's place, when he entered he found him on the floor not breathing.

"Winn, any chance that you're still in the office?" Alex asks into the coms link.

"Yeah, Kara gave me her research notes and I'm writing a code now that will identify and analyze all of Waller's interactions on Twitter," Winn answers.

"Okay, well we should also look at Cat Grant's Twitter feed, specifically looking for anyone defending her. Whoever killed Waller may have done it to protect her," Alex informs him.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Is that all you brought?" Cat asks looking at the small satchel slung over Kara's shoulder as the elevator opens.

"You said that it's furnished and it's not like I'm going to actually live here," Kara answers nervously.

"Oh right," Cat replies, but turns around quickly towards the door at the end of the hall.

Even though Cat's face is carefully devoid of emotion, Kara's known her long enough to tell that she is disappointed by her remark.

"Cat. Wait," Kara says reaching out and laying a hand on the other woman's shoulder.

Cat pauses, still a few steps ahead so that her back is to Kara.

"Is there a chance that we could talk over dinner, after Supergirl is settled into the apartment?" Kara asks, flashing a warm smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Lynai Lumos graduated from NCU in May and she's been an intern at CATCO since June," Winn says proudly showing Alex what he found. Mon-El looks on feigning disinterest as he waits for Winn to finish up so they can get a drink at the Galleon.

"Hmm," Alex says moving behind him to read the screen for herself.

They both read silently for a moment.

"She fits the profile except," Alex begins as Winn clicks opens up the girl's Instagram account and finally there's a full photo of her. Alex groans in frustration, "except she doesn't look like she could scale a ten story building, let alone force her way into Waller's townhouse."

"Wait, that guy looks familiar for some reason?" Winn says stopping at a photo of Lynai and a man in a blue button down shirt with a NASA logo embroidered on it.

"Why don't we just put her under surveillance. If she's got powers, she'll use them and then we'll know," Mon-El asserts.

Alex shoots Mon-El a withering glare, before pointing at the screen. "Can you find out who that is?" She asks Winn.

"Mon-El, even black op government agencies can't put people under surveillance without evidence of some kind," Winn counters as he pulls up the photo and runs the facial recognition software against it. There's a match almost immediately.

"What did you find?" Alex asks moving back to read over his shoulder again, then glaring at Mon-El as he crowds in beside her.

"Bruce Roberts. He was the NASA scientist who got busted last year for stealing asteroid particles from a crash site. Initially, the particles gave him super strength and speed, but continued exposure began to break down his system, eventually it killed him," Winn explains as he skims over the article, then pulling up the man's obituary he adds, "Roberts was her uncle.

"Send that to me and find out if they were close. Maybe she has been exposed to the particles, it would explain how she was able to get into Waller's place," Alex points out.

"He died a few months ago and it looks like she was his only living relative," Winn adds reading through the obituary.

"Okay, I really need to go talk to Maggie about this," Alex says glancing from Winn to Mon-El. "Don't either of you do anything without me," she warns them both. "Winn, keep me posted on what you find."

"Yeah, yeah, I know... and you've got a hundred ways to hurt me," he adds pointing his finger at her to show that he remembers her threat.

Mon-El slides up to Winn after Alex leaves and looks over his shoulder. "She's probably about to leave CATCO right now, we could go get a look at her for ourselves," he suggests.

"Didn't you hear Alex? She just wants us to research her," Winn reminds him.

"Uh, she wants you to do that. She barely said anything to me," Mon-El points out.

"Look, I won't be much longer. Just go ahead to the bar and I'll meet you there," Winn suggests hoping to distract the Daximite. Mon-El has been a bit erratic since Kara rejected him, even after both Winn and James explained that she had rejected them as well. It's almost as if he thinks that he needs to prove himself capable without Kara's help.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maggie, returns to her desk to find the message light blinking on her phone and a stack of messages on her desk. She picks them up and picks through them quickly. Most of them are anonymous calls from the tip line, most of them full of useless tips. One person saw Batman flying over National City, another saw Superman. Not likely on either front, Maggie is certain that this is someone new. Someone who isn't on anyone's radar yet. Checking her messages on her phone, she smiles when she hears a message from Tom Clarkson telling her to check her email. She had mentioned to Collins that they had an anonymous caller give them a lead from Twitter, but she couldn't tell him that she was expecting anything from CATCO.

Sitting down, the detective pulls up her email and begins to review the information. Much of it is identical to what the NCPD analyst found, with the exception of the last section. She knew that Twitter user, CatisQueenofMe, outed Waller, but what they hadn't determined yet, was the user's identity. This is new information, quickly Maggie calls the analyst and gives him the name, Lynai Lumos. "I need a full background on her as soon as possible," she tells the analyst before grabbing heading into Collins' office to update him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mon-El left the DEO intending to go to the Galleon, but he couldn't resist heading to CATCO first, just to get a look at the woman. As he stands in the shadows between two buildings, waiting to spot her, people begin streaming out the main door. He spots Eve first, but suddenly she is joined by a small dark haired woman. If she's obsessed about Cat Grant, it makes sense that she would befriend her assistant. Now positive that this is the right woman, he crosses the street to get close enough to listen to their conversation. They speak briefly before Eve apologizes and heads into the stream of people heading to the bus stop. Lynai takes a moment to look around, she is either looking for someone or watching to see if someone is watching her. Mon-El walks around her and over to greet Eve, who is understandably surprised to see him. They talk awkwardly for a moment, before he makes up an excuse to leave, promising to call. Now he doesn't have a lot of experience with people acting suspicious, but the few weeks that he worked for the loan shark did teach him that people who constantly look over their shoulder usually have something to hide. A few blocks later, he is feeling rather smug that she hasn't spotted him, which is probably why he doesn't notice that before she rounds the next corner, she slips into the alley. So when he makes the turn she is not there. Frustrated that he lost her, he closes his eyes and listens keenly, he may not have Kryptonian super-hearing, but his hearing is superior to humans. He hears her above him and looks up just in time to see her clear the side of the building and jump to the next roof. Without thinking he jumps up to the fire escape and then bounds to the next one, easily making his way up the building. He pauses to listen before he makes the last jump, wanting to make sure that she's not waiting for him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You kissed me and I panicked," Cat admits, "It was not my proudest moment." The two women are dining on take out on the balcony at Cat's penthouse.

"Except that you don't panic," Kara argues, because it's true. Even when Livewire attacked them the first time, Cat didn't panic.

"Oh, I do. I just hide it extremely well," Cat replies with a nervous laugh.

"I'm so sorry, I never should..." Kara says looking down quickly, "It felt like...I just, I thought it was something we both wanted to happen," she stammers nervously.

Cat reaches over, placing her fingers lightly under Kara's chin and lifting it up. "It was," she says softly.

"Then why didn't you kiss me back?" Kara asks lightly, still not trusting what she's feeling.

Cat's hand releases the light hold on her chin and she begins to nervously twist the cloth napkin in her lap.

"Oh Kara, the whole time that we've known each other, I've felt drawn to you. At first, I thought it was because you were so good at your job and my god, you are the embodiment of sunshine. You've charmed almost every employee at CATCO. In fact you might be the most popular employee in the building," Cat confesses.

I doubt that, Brenda in accounting is pretty popular. And saying that I've charmed people makes it seem like..." Kara begins to argue the point, but is distracted by the intense gaze of green eyes, that have just a hint of brown.

Cat reaches across their laps for Kara's hands.

"Brenda is popular because she hands out the bonus checks, but you Kara, your charm is derived from your sincerity and genuine kindness. Not to mention that you are the most thoughtful person that I have ever met," Cat says sincerely, giving the blonde hero's hands a soft squeeze.

Facing each other with knees touching and holding hands across their laps, seems to give Cat courage, because Kara can't believe the words coming out of Cat's mouth. Cat's always been bluntly honest, but rarely does she express herself this openly.

Kara looks down at their hands and then back up at Cat. "What's happening?" She questions softly.

"This." Cat murmurs, leaning towards her but stopping halfway, a small smile at the corner of her mouth. "If you want it," she adds.

Kara doesn't hesitate to close the gap between them. "I want," she whispers softly, pressing her lips to Cat's.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: What a great episode. So many good things happened and now they've announced the title of the season finale episodes with Cat - "Nevertheless She Persisted." Excited and hopeful that they'll fix some of this mess with the finale.
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

She groans in frustration who the hell is this guy and why is he following her. Is nothing going to go right today? First she thought that she was finally going to meet Cat today, when her boss asked her to run a report upstairs to the CEO's assistant. She hoped that the assistant wouldn't be there and she could just waltz right into Cat's office. But of course that didn't happen. The assistant was there waiting for the report and Cat was sitting on the couch with another woman going over some files. Now she's being followed by this wannabe hero.

Looking over her shoulder again, she catches another glimpse of him, she is certain that he's the same guy that she saw after work talking to Eve Teschmacher and from the way Eve looked at him Lynai assumed that it was her boyfriend, which makes him following her even more weird. Not to mention that he's obviously an alien or something like it, since he's following her across the rooftops with practiced ease. Is he a cop? The cops have been at CATCO for two days now but they haven't come near her so there is no reason to believe that anyone is on to her yet. Is there a chance that he works for Cat Grant? Was the woman that she saw in Cat's office private security and if so, does this guy work for her? Lynai stops for a moment to think it through again and she notices that the guy has stopped as well. He must be able to hear her, she thinks. Worried that he may have more powers than she does, she makes a decision.

Lynai lands on the next roof and stays below his sightline and doubles back to the edge of the building out of sight. A moment later, just as the guy is about to land on the rooftop, she pops up, then swings a punch with all she's got. The blow sends him reeling backward, he flails a moment then drops like a stone. She doesn't stop to watch, instead she dashes away, intending to put as much distance between them as she can before he can recover.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mon-El was looking around for her, when she suddenly appeared right in front of him. She landed the blow while he was still in the air and there was nothing for him to grab onto, so he fell like a rock. The space between the two buildings was barely a car's width apart. He turned his body to grab ahold of a fire escape railing, but it groaned from his weight and began to bend. Using his feet, he pushed away from the wall, but he pushed a little too hard and ended up ricocheting down between the two buildings like a pinball. A moment later, he hit the ground hard followed by a shower of crumbled brick. He laid there a moment on his back, the hard landing knocked the wind out of him for a moment, but he wasn't hurt physically, his pride seemed to have taken the brunt of the damage. Groaning, he now slips his hand into his pocket and pulls out the cell phone Winn gave him, to his surprise it still seems to work, so he sighs and makes the call.

"Where are you? I just got to the bar and no one's seen you," Winn asks his friend worriedly.

"About that," Mon-El says laughing lightly as he begins to get up. "So I found her and it turns out that she definitely has some super powers."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Collins hangs up the phone and looks over to the young detective sitting across from him, Stewart Johnson.

"Apparently we have a new alien in town," Collins remarks and the younger man looks at him curiously waiting for him to continue.

"There was another alien following her tonight, the two of them were spotted downtown jumping from roof to roof. The girl knocked him down and he fell 20 stories between two buildings and got up without a scratch," Waller adds.

"There was a male that worked with Supergirl a few weeks ago. We haven't been able to identify him, but he isn't Kryptonian, he can't fly and he's not as strong as Supergirl," Johnson points out.

"That's good though, if he's close to Supergirl then maybe we can use that to figure out her real identity," Collins counters.

"Almost every alien in National City has registered on the National Registry except for Supergirl and this guy, so what is it that they have to hide?" Johnson asks.

"That's exactly what we need to find out," Collins retorts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You went rogue again," Winn remarks a short while later when Mon-El climbs into the van. "Alex is going to kill you."

"Yeah right," he scoffs. "You know what, s-she should thank me, because I did her a favor and now, now we know that this Lumos chick is superpowered," Mon-El argues back.

"Keep telling yourself that, man." Winn quips shaking his head.

"Oh and we need to let Kara know about this meta-girl," Mon-El says changing the subject.

Winn looks quizzically over at the alien, "Dude, Kara is already aware of Lumos and I found security footage from last night showing her climbing up the building across from Waller's. It puts her near his place right before his death," he points out.

"Well, that's bad, because I overheard Ms Grant's assistant accidently tell Lumos that she, Ms Grant, is home alone," Mon-El replies. "Kara would want to know that her friend might be in danger," he adds.

"Ohh, is that why you followed her? To help Kara protect Ms Grant?" Winn asks, unsure if he really wants to unpack all of this with Mon-El tonight.

Mon-El groans and closes his eyes. He really doesn't even like Cat Grant. The few times that he's been near her, she has looked right past him like he wasn't even there. No, he's definitely not doing this for her. Maybe Winn is right. Maybe he is just doing this to get Kara's attention.

Winn pulls the van over and grabs his cell phone from the console. He glares at Mon-El as he pulls up Kara's number and calls her.

"Hey Kara, you have a sec?" He asks waiting for the hero's response.

"Uh, sure just a minute," Kara says softly, before pressing the phone to her chest and excusing herself from Cat's home office. "What's up Winn? Did you find out something else?" She asks as she moves down the hall and into the living room.

"Sort of, so Mon-El followed Lumos from CATCO..." Winn begins before Kara cuts him off.

"I thought you said that he went to the Galleon? What the hell was he doing following her?" Kara asks angrily.

"Kara, just listen, she noticed him and got away. And h-he thinks that she may be on her way to Ms Grant's place," Winn informs her.

"He had no business following," Kara snaps. "Wait, why does he think she's coming here? Kara questions.

"Well," Winn says looking over at the Daxamite. "He overheard Lumos talking to Ms Teschmacher. Apparently, she was able to get Eve to tell her that Carter is away this week. It might be a good idea for you to go over there and make sure that she's alright. We don't know how long it will take for NCPD to investigate her and pick her up," he adds.

"I'll just stay here tonight then, just in case," Kara replies firmly.

"You're already there?" Winn questions, he knows quite well that his friend has a crush on her former boss.

"Yes, we had some things to go over," Kara offers, it's not really a lie. They did go over their cover story for how long Supergirl has had the apartment.

"Ever since Ms Grant returned to National City, the two of you have been spending a lot of time together," Winn points out carefully.

"Winn," Kara says as a warning. Now isn't the time to discuss what is or isn't going on between her and Cat.

"Okay, okay," he says backing off. "But it's good because you should probably stay close by until this is all sorted out," Winn adds tactfully.

"I intend to and if it makes you feel better, I have an apartment down the hall now," she adds, more to prevent him from speculating any more than he already has.

"You moved without telling me?" Winn blurts out and Mon-El turns to look at him suddenly more interested in the conversation.

"No, the apartment is for Supergirl," Kara retorts. "I still have the loft."

"Uh Kara, you do know that you and Supergirl are the same person," Winn points out even more confused and worried than before.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kara frowns, of course Winn would freak out about her being here with Cat, he's always been a bit terrified of the media mogul. Standing on the balcony in the cool night air, Kara takes a moment to focus on the sounds of the city around her. Confident that there's nothing to worry about, she is about to turn around, when she senses Cat right behind her.

"What is going on?" Cat asks concerned. It's not often that she's heard the blonde raise her voice and curse. One could argue that the word 'hell' is barely an expletive.

"Um, Cat the other organization that I work for has identified someone that they think may be a threat to you and they're worried that she may be on her way here," Kara begins to explain.

"Who is she?" Cat questions.

"Lynai Lumos, and not only is she obsessed with you, she has been working as an intern in the social media department," Kara explains uncomfortably.

"She works for me?" Cat blurts out mildly surprised. "Does this have anything to do with Waller or is this a separate issue?"

"We're pretty sure that she's connected to Waller," Kara answers carefully.

"Are you sure? Because it is not uncommon for me to have obsessed fans, just ask Tom, security has a list," Cat quips lightly, reminding Kara of the list of people that Cat has restraining orders against.

"Cat, this is serious. After Waller was removed from the office and escorted out of CATCO, someone outed him on Twitter. They connected his true Twitter profile to the ones that he used to troll people. He got into several heated arguments and several people threatened to kill him if he didn't stop trolling. We identified one of those people as Lynai Lumos, which is why I gave all my research to Tom to pass along to the NCPD," Kara explains seriously.

Cat sinks down into the nearest chair, stunned. When she was going over the forensics reports with Alex, the witness indicated that he heard a woman yelling and she mentioned Cat's name.

"It's going to be okay, I'm here," Kara says softly.

"Kara what if she killed Waller as some sort of misguided way to protect me?" Cat asks.

"That's possible, but I'm not leaving your side until this is all over," Kara replies.

"Oh Kara, maybe you're right. I should hire extra security," Cat admits.

"Actually, we think that she's a meta-human. She's abnormally strong and can climb and jump, your average security guard isn't going to be able to protect you from her," Kara points out.

"Oh," Cat says still processing everything.

"NCPD is working on this and now that they know who she is and that something has altered or maybe given her superhuman strength, they'll find her. Cat the NCPD Science Division is top notch," Kara rambles trying to reassure the other woman.

The older woman doesn't answer, she just wraps her arms around herself a little tighter. Having Livewire after her was different. Cat knew Leslie and understood her anger. It was still frightening, but not like this. Knowing that there is a total stranger out there obsessing over her and may have killed to protect her honor feels chaotic and Cat doesn't do well with chaos.

Kara goes to her and kneels beside the chair. "Cat, I'm here. You're safe," she murmurs resting a hand on Cat's knee.

Cat sighs and reaches out to cover Kara's hand with her own.

"What happens now?" She asks in a small voice.

"We wait for the police and everyone to investigate her and hopefully arrest or at least bring her in for questioning," Kara answers. "And, uh, I'm going to stay near you until that happens. You won't mind if Supergirl volunteered to be your protection detail?" She asks.

Cat scoffs. "I don't need Supergirl. I just need you," she answers giving Kara's hand a squeeze.

"Well, lucky for you, you get both of us," Kara answers playfully, before wrapping her arms around the smaller woman.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maggie unlocks the door to her place and immediately senses that she isn't alone, so she reaches for her weapon.

"Sorry, it's just me," Alex says coming out of the bedroom. "You didn't get my text," she adds.

"I must have missed it," Maggie answers as she sets the gun on the counter and begins to remove her jacket and then her holster. "It's been a hell of a day," she admits.

"I know," Alex replies as she crosses the room and places a soft kiss to her girlfriend's lips.

"I didn't think that I would see you tonight," Maggie says pulling her in close and returning the kiss.

"Can we, uh talk first... about your case?" Alex asks.

"Alex, I got the information from Kara and we're investigating Lumos, but you know that I can't talk about an open investigation" Maggie begins stepping back and running her hand through her hair.

"Okay, then I'll talk. I have some new information on Lynai Lumos," Alex replies, her gaze studying the detective carefully.

"Why do you have new information on her?" Maggie asks, a little annoyed that Alex won't stay out of it.

"Don't get mad, just hear me out. I was the one who told Kara to call you with the information," Alex reminds her.

"Okay," Maggie replies waiting for the rest of it.

"I may have seen the forensics and autopsy reports on Waller and opened up a DEO file on Lumos," she explains quickly. "Winn was researching her and we found out that she may be a meta," Alex continues, hoping that Maggie won't comment on her seeing the files.

"The DEO cannot take over this investigation," Maggie begins to argue. "If you have her in custody, you had better be turning her over to NCPD."

"No, we haven't picked her up. Look, Mon-El went rogue again, he's still trying to prove himself to Kara, I think. Anyway, he followed her and tipped her off," Alex replies. "But we can help locate her and help you bring her in," she adds quickly.

Maggie frowns, Collins isn't going to be happy about the DEO's assistance. "And how the hell did you get copies of those reports? Did you also have Winn hack into the NCPD mainframe?" She questions loudly.

"No, Winn didn't do it. Your reports were leaked to the media, Cat Grant has them," Alex answers.

"Damn it, that's why Collins went to the Police Commissioner. I knew he was withholding information from me," Maggie exclaims running her hand through her hair. "Is that everything?"

"Of course," Alex replies. "I meant it when I promised not to lie to you," she adds sincerely.

The brunette detective sighs and reaches over and squeezes her girlfriend's arm. "Thank you, but now I need to call Collins," she says unhappily. "And we'll need to put a detail on Cat Grant, unless you've taken care of that too."

"About that, did you know that Supergirl has an apartment at CATCO Towers?" Alex asks with a shy smirk.

"Seriously?" Maggie retorts returning the smile. "When did that happen?"

"Officially, after Myriad, but technically a few hours ago," Alex says relaxing a bit, now that the worst of their conversation is over.

Maggie ends the call to Collins, after filling him in on the report that Alex shared with her. And he agreed to station a couple of officers to keep track of Lumos after Maggie assured him that the DEO had an agent in place to protect Ms Grant.

"Hmm, so Kara stays another night with Cat, if they weren't together before, they will be now," Maggie points out as she sets two tumblers of scotch on the coffee table and plops down beside Alex on the couch.

"She said that she's staying in the guest room," Alex answers.

"You don't sound like you believe her," Maggie points out.

"I believe her, I just hope that she understands what she's getting into with Cat Grant. She's not just dating an older woman, she's dating someone who is in the media spotlight. And the last thing Kara needs is media attention. Facial recognition software is a thing, it's just a matter of time before her identity is revealed," Alex counters.

"Is she prepared for that?" Maggie questions.

Alex pauses. It's a fair question. Kara did use Supergirl as a source and when it's revealed that she is Supergirl, all of her stories may be called into question.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lynai slips into her apartment building through the parking garage, she knows that whoever was following her gave up, which is why she indulged her curiosity and snuck onto the roof of the building across the street from CATCO Towers, she couldn't see much though because the building was several stories shorter, but she could see a shadow of someone on Cat's balcony. She was certain that it was Cat, but a few minutes later another person appeared beside the first one. Lynai gasps, she assumed Cat would be alone since her assistant said that her son was out of town. A few minutes later, she could see the two silhouettes embrace and then she noticed the ponytail on the taller one. It had to be Kara Danvers. Lynai heard all of the rumors at CATCO about Cat's former assistant. And now, Lynai promises herself, it is time to get Kara Danvers out of the way.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case anyone is curious, I use the DC Wikipage to get ideas for villains. Lynai Lumos is loosely based on Lady Luma and Luma Lynai. Oh and unexpected night off means new chapter posted!
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Ever since she found the asteroid particles in her Uncle Bruce's basement lab, she no longer needs much sleep. And using a few tricks that she learned from an over-caffeinated hacker that she dated in college, it didn't take her long to figure out the best way to ruin Kara Danvers. Lynai smiles smugly as she watches the news break on-line before clicking through a few channels, almost every news show is reporting on the story. Excited and almost giddy that her plan is working perfectly, she grabs her messenger bag and decides it's time to head out.

Heading over to the window of her apartment, Lynai climbs out onto the fire escape and up to the top of it, where she can make the jump to the roof. If she leaves now, she will have just enough time to go by CATCO Towers and see how the Queen of all Media is reacting this morning's news.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kara smiles broadly and stretches as the sun floods her senses, for a moment it reminds her of her bedroom in Midvale, smiling at the memory she begins to stretch and it's then that remembers where she is. Her eyes pop open and she glances around the room before using her x-ray vision to find Cat in the apartment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You're already working?" Kara mumbles through a yawn as she stands in the doorway in her pajamas. It takes her a minute to realize that Cat obviously came into her home office right from her bed, her robe hastily wrapped around her, falling off one shoulder revealing a thin strap of silk.

Cat must have noticed Kara noticing her mostly bare shoulder, because she adjusts the robe before responding.

"Breaking news has ruined more than one night's sleep," she quips nodding at the tv. Not allowing herself to dwell on the sight of Kara in her ridiculously cute pajamas.

Kara laughs lightly and smiles at her as she enters the room, wondering what the breaking story is. Her smile fades as she sees her own name on the screen. She turns to look at Cat, who simply unmutes the tv.

_"It would seem that there is another disgruntled employee at CATCO Worldwide Media, as CATCO magazine reporter, Kara Danvers sent out a press release of sorts attaching her personal blog which contains a number of stories that have not been published through the magazine," the anchor then begins to read directly from the press release._

Kara gasps in shock. "A press release? I've been sleeping, how could I have sent that?" She exclaims in confusion.

Cat continues watching the news report. It's on a loop and she can almost quote it verbatim by now, but she wants Kara to hear the whole thing, so she remains silent.

"I-I didn't ... that wasn't me, I've been here," Kara stammers immediately pointing at the screen. A moment later they show the email word for word. "Oh come on, that press release is terrible. I write better than that in my sleep," she exclaims again turning to look at Cat. "Not that I did, because I don't write things in my sleep," she rambles before pleading with the other woman. "Cat please say something, you know that I couldn't have done this last night because I don't even have my computer here?"

"It doesn't matter what I know, it's not as if it would help either of us for me to intervene at this point. Kara, this is quite serious. Snapper has already called me to discuss it. Blogging is a terminable offense," Cat retorts unemotionally, she is certain that Kara didn't do this, but it won't matter until they can figure who did do it.

"He's going to fire me? But, but I-I didn't do this ... and I don't even have a website," Kara stammers in frustration.

"Really? Because there is one registered in your name and paid for with your credit card," Cat informs her, pushing a printed document across the desk for her to look over.

"Oh," Kara says looking at the document. "Wait, Winn told me to secure that domain name when I was starting out as a reporter, but there's no website," she points out.

Cat clicks on another tab and pulls up the website, then turns the computer back around for her to see.

"That isn't...I didn't set that up," Kara protests as she looks at the poorly designed website. "I've been hacked. I need to call Winn. He can figure this out."

"Someone has certainly gone to a lot of trouble to make it look like you've taken to blogging all of your rejected stories," Cat remarks as she scrolls through the list of articles on the site.

"Um, not all of those were rejected ... this one wasn't even submitted to Snapper," Kara exclaims angrily. "A-and this one, I just wrote yesterday. Cat, someone has hacked into my CATCO files and posted all of these overnight," she points to the posting date.

Cat sighs. She knew that the whole thing was bogus, but it has to be treated seriously, now that it's public. "Kara, I believe you," she admits softening her tone. "And I've called Tom, he's working with IT to investigate this," Cat promises.

"Okay," Kara says looking lost and defeated.

"Although, until we get this sorted out, you can't go into the office," Cat adds thoughtfully.

"But how can I protect you if I'm not at CATCO?" Kara blurts out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Winn's phone blew up at dawn with messages from Alex and J'onn, by the time Kara called he had been able to take the website down and was now on the phone with his old supervisor at CATCO trying to talk him through tracing the hack.

"Danvers had VPN access and it was done through the VPN connection," the man informs Winn.

"I realize that, but she isn't the only person at CATCO with VPN access. Anyone could hacked her email from the VPN network, which is why I devised that firewall for Ms Grant after her email was hacked internally. And why I suggested that it be implemented system wide," Winn reminds him.

"Why are you so invested in this Schott? Did you finally get Danvers to go out with you?"

"Uh, she's my friend and I want to clear her name. She didn't do this," Winn explains.

"Well, it's too late for that. Even if we can prove that she didn't do this, her career is ruined. I've already been instructed to deactivate her system access. She no longer works at CATCO."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Usually Ms Teschmacher is relieved when Ms Grant decides to work from her home office, but today is the exception. First thing this morning, Snapper sent out an internal memo informing everyone that discussing Kara Danvers with outside media would be grounds for immediate dismissal, which only increased the number of media calls that were already pouring in for Ms Grant. Everytime she hangs up the phone, it rings again and she has to repeat the same message to the next caller.

"Looks like you could use some help," a familiar voice says setting down a cup of coffee in front of the harried assistant.

"Oh my gosh, thank you," Eve says picking up the cup and taking a long sip. "The phones just won't stop ringing and now Ms Grant just emailed me to set up a press conference this afternoon."

"A press conference?" The short-haired brunette inquires lightly.

"You didn't hear that from me," Eve replies quickly realizing that she shouldn't have said anything to the intern.

"Will it be here?" Lynai asks nodding towards Cat's office.

"I really can't say," Eve says apologetically, before answering another call.

"Cat Grant's office," she says sternly into the receiver. Then adds, "Yes, I can confirm that Ms Danvers was previously Ms Grant's assistant. But no Ms Grant is not accepting interview requests at this time."

"So is it true that Danvers was fired for blogging?" The girl asks when Eve hangs up the phone again.

"I'm sorry, I can't discuss this with anyone. Ms Grant is very strict about that kind of thing," Eve says taking a sip of the coffee.

"Really? Gosh, everyone is talking about it, I can't believe that she would expect you not to," Lynai explains.

"Thank you for the coffee, but I have a million things to do if this phone ever stops ringing," Eve replies before answering another call.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lynai excuses herself and heads back over to the elevator. She hasn't been able to get anyone to confirm that Danvers is fired, it's rather unsatisfying, she thinks as she presses the button on the elevator to return to her cubicle. As the elevator descends, she suddenly hears her name being spoken by a voice that she doesn't recognize. Quickly, she punches a button to stop the elevator at the floor before hers. She exits when the doors open and moves to the stairwell. Silently thanking her uncle for the enhanced hearing that came with the super strength. It only takes her a moment to focus and find the voice that she heard moments ago.

"Why don't you both wait in my office, while we locate Ms Lumos," the director of Social Media suggests politely. She can't believe that security escorted the detectives to her office without calling ahead to warn her.

"Sheila, we need to locate Lynai Lumos right away," the security guard whispers to her.

"Well, she's in the building...somewhere," Sheila whispers back.

In the office, Maggie and Collins exchange concerned looks. She knew that she should have alerted Tom last night, but Collins told her to wait since they had her under surveillance.

"I'll call Clarkson, you call and see if the DEO Can track her," Collins says through tight lips. He hates to ask outside agencies for help, but they both know that the DEO can probably track Lumos more easily than NCPD, if their ability to track aliens is any indication.

Maggie tries to hide her smirk as she pulls her phone out of her pocket to call Alex.

"Danvers," Alex answers on the first ring.

"Sawyer," Maggie says letting Alex know that this call isn't social. "Any chance that you can track Lumos? She slipped past the surveillance team this morning. We're at CATCO now, she isn't at her desk and no one's sure where she went" she explains quickly.

"Let me see where Winn's at with that. He's been swamped with trying to figure out who hacked Kara and got her fired from CATCO for blogging," Alex replies.

"I saw that on the news and it's all people are talking about here," Maggie remarks.

"Winn can you scan CATCO for unusual biometric markers? We need to find Lumos," Alex explains as she leans on his desk.

"I won't be able to confirm that it's her, since we don't have her biometric signature yet," Winn reminds her.

"Well, it's all we can do right now," Alex points out.

"Uh, looks like there is someone in the stairwell closest to the main elevator," Winn says a moment later. "Right about the 21st floor," he adds.

"Check the stairwell on the 21st floor," Alex directs the detective.

Ending the call, Maggie grabs Collins sleeve, "Come on, she's in the stairwell," she says moving quickly out the door.  
"Stairs?" She asks the first person she sees and as they point down the hall, Maggie radios ahead to the other officers covering the back alley.


	14. Chapter 14

"Absolutely not," Cat answers. "You are not to confirm or deny **any** aspect of this story, Lucas."

"You can't protect her from this," Snapper grumbles.

"I am protecting my company. There is more to this than what is currently being reported, I will not have CATCO join the cacophony and report half-truths and innuendo," Cat snaps at him.

"Half-truths? This is cut and dry, Grant. Danvers has a blog and everything that she posted on it belongs to CATCO. All of which has been verified. She's fired." he points out.

"Verified by whom?" Cat asks winding up for the take down blow. "IT and Security have verified that Kara Danvers left CATCO yesterday and her laptop has not been on-line since she left the office. They have also been able to determine that the email server was hacked through the employee VPN connection early this morning and that Kara's email account was accessed to issue that press release. In fact, while everything posted on her website belongs to CATCO, there is no proof yet that she posted it."

Snapper groans. "Of course, she posted it. Who else would have done it? And why are you just now telling me about a hack?" He asks angrily.

"IT has recently confirmed the hack, but they have not yet tracked down the source or determined how many accounts were accessed. I will be issuing a statement this afternoon, until then I expect you to keep this information to yourself. Oh and Tom will bring you the investigation file, perhaps you would consider writing an expose on how easy it is to manipulate the media with fake news," Cat quips before ending the call.

"Thank you," Kara says when Cat turns back around.

"Don't thank me yet, your reputation as a reporter is still damaged by this. Now what did you find out from your sister?" Cat questions as she sits beside Kara on the couch.

"Lumos was at CATCO this morning, but no one has seen her in the past hour. The police are looking for her to bring her in for questioning, but they don't have enough to arrest her for Waller's murder and they haven't connected her to the hack," Kara explains. "Uh, are you sure that a press conference isn't premature?" She asks with concern.

"This situation isn't just damaging your reputation Kara, it's also damaging CATCO's. The press conference is the best way to interrupt the news cycle and refocus the media on something other than you. It will be enough that we can prove that our server was hacked. You saw how quickly the media jumped on that press release, believe me they will be so busy speculating on the identity of the hacker that they'll forget all about you. This could save both you and CATCO, if we're lucky," Cat points out, resting a hand on her shoulder.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lumos narrowly avoided the two detectives at CATCO, escaping down the stairwell ahead of them. Once in the alley, she was able to zip past the two waiting officers before they even saw her. Now landing softly on the roof of CATCO Towers she takes a deep breath. Killing Waller was never part of the plan and now everything has escalated. Pacing in the little garden area to the side of the helipad, Lumos sighs. She just needs a little time to figure out her next move.

Suddenly she smiles as she focuses on Cat Grant speaking below her. The smile fades a moment later as she takes in what is being said and to whom. Why the hell is Kara Danvers still there, she fumes as confusion and frustration all flood into her head, overloading her senses. A moment later she screams and launches herself off the roof.

Kara hears the scream and reacts immediately, by rushing outside.

"Kara?" Cat questions, but her voice is drowned out by the sound of glass breaking as Kara comes flying back through the wall of windows.

Cat jumps over the couch to protect herself from the shards of glass flying everywhere and Kara lands against it with a thud moving it back several feet as Cat scrambles out of the way.

"Kara, what the hell is happening?" Cat inquires worriedly.

"Just stay down," Kara whispers quickly, as another woman steps through the broken window.

"I have no intention of harming my Queen, but you Kara Danvers, you are in the way and must be removed. I'll give you two choices... leave now on your own, or stay and I'll throw you off the balcony," Lynai offers smugly as Cat stares daggers at her and Kara scrambles to her feet.

"I think you're overlooking one more choice," Kara remarks before spinning into her suit.

"Supergirl?" Lynai blurts out in shock, stumbling backwards over the debris.

"Who's throwing who off the balcony now?" Kara quips as she advances on the smaller woman.

Lynai reacts immediately turning around and diving over the balcony wall.

Kara stops and looks back at Cat to make sure that she's alright.

"I'm fine. Just go! Get that girl!" Cat yells encouraging her to get moving.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kara dives off the balcony and immediately begins looking to see where Lumos went, when Alex's voice fills her ear.

"Lumos is.." she begins to blurt out.

"Here. I know, she just knocked me across the balcony and through Cat's windows. Can you send a team over there?" Kara asks. "And please make sure Cat's alright."

"Yeah, of course," Alex replies as Winn points to the screen showing Lumos on the street below Supergirl.

"How did you know that she was here?" Kara asks.

"Winn thinks that he has figured out her biometric markers, so we're tracking her. If he's right, then she is on the street right below you," Alex informs her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Supergirl dives down towards the street to fly low enough to look for the woman. Unfortunately, people start pointing at her and people stop their cars to gawk at the sight of her. Worried that she'll cause an accident, Kara lands softly and waves at them for a moment, before focusing her sight ahead and looking for Lumos.

From the excited voices around her Lynai can guess that Supergirl is getting closer, so she ducks into a cafe and hides in the back near the bathroom. A moment later Supergirl walks slowly past the diner, Lynai looks around quickly before noticing the back door leads out into an alley.

"She's right there somewhere," Winn says looking at his screen, unfortunately the tracking system isn't able to pinpoint the metahuman's location.

"Winn, I don't see her anywhere," Supergirl replies.

"She must be hiding. Wait! There! She's in the alley to the east of you," Winn blurts out pointing at the screen. Kara hears him and shoots up and over the building, landing in the empty alley seconds later.

"Damn, she's not here," the hero cries out in frustration. "Winn are you sure that she hasn't doubled back to Cat's?"

"She's moving east... wait, I lost her. She's gone," he says with surprise.

"Hank is there now," Alex replies quickly. "Hank we've lost her, are you with Cat?"

"I'm here and she is uncooperative but unhurt," Hank says over the coms link.

"Tell her that I want her to go with you," Kara suggests.

A moment later Hank responds. "I believe her response would best be summarized as Hell No."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Collins is on the phone, so Maggie is driving and wishing that she had Alex on speaker phone right now. She knows that the DEO can track Lumos and it would be easier to help them, than driving around trying to find her like they are now. Maybe she should ask Alex for one of the ear pieces. Instead, she reaches over to turn up the police radio just in time to hear a report that Supergirl has been spotted a few blocks away. Flipping on her lights and sirens, she waits for traffic to respond, then takes a sharp right turn. Collins shoots her a questioning look, before ending his call.

"Sawyer, what the hell?" He blurts out impatiently.

"Supergirl was just spotted in this area looking for someone," Maggie explains as she throws the vehicle in park and looks back at him. "Coming?" She asks.

"No, see what you can find out here, I have to make another call," Collins replies.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lumos hides in the sea of people downtown near the pier. She walks rapidly through the crowd trying to think. She is shocked to discover that Kara Danvers is Supergirl, but it does explain why Cat Grant would keep her around. Lynai tears up as she remembers the angry fierceness leveled at her by Cat Grant, the look matched, of course, by Supergirl herself. And as strong as she is, she is no match for Supergirl. She might have deluded herself where Cat Grant was concerned, but there is no point in going forward with her plan to capture the Queen of all Media's heart with her abilities, not when she has her own Superhero at her beck and call. As Lumos walks through the crowd, she unconsciously begins toying with the charm on her necklace in which the asteroid particles are embedded. Touching it sends small tingles which spread through her body and calm her.

A moment later she smiles. She may not be able to win Cat's heart, but she can at least destroy Kara Danvers and Supergirl.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"That's not her either. That's an andromedan," Kara groans as she and Alex look over the tourists on the wharf. Kara is dressed like Alex in DEO black, not wanting to draw attention as either Kara Danvers or Supergirl.

"Winn, make a note, that profile belongs to an andromedan," Alex instructs over the coms link. "Well, we've identified the biometric signature of at least twelve different alien species, so it hasn't been a total loss."

Kara sighs heavily.

"We should get back though, the press conference starts in fifteen minutes," Alex reminds her.

"I don't like this. If you're going to let Cat use herself as bait, then I should be there to protect her," Kara grumbles.

"Kara, it's not so much that we are letting her do it, she's doing it and she insists that you not be there, so J'onn is posing as her personal bodyguard. You know that she is as safe with him as she would be with you. At least she agreed to move the press conference outside of CATCO Plaza to give us more room to monitor the crowd." Alex reminds her as they approach her DEO vehicle.

"I still should be there," Kara pouts as they both climb into the SUV.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the DEO control room, Kara is pacing nervously waiting for the press conference to begin and Alex is trying to remain still and focused. She knows how difficult it is for her sister to sit this one out, but with Kara Danvers in the news, Supergirl needs to lay low.

On screen, they finally see Cat step up to the podium, J'onn by her side and flanked by chief of security and director of IT.

"We were hacked," Cat announces dramatically, sending a buzz through the crowd of reporters. "Overnight an unidentified individual gained access to one of the CATCO servers. This time, I was not the target," she pauses for effect. "Now our internal investigation is being led by Tom Clarkson, Chief of Security, but as of right now we have confirmed that the message sent from Kara Danvers' CATCO email early this morning was sent by someone accessing our system remotely and not by the reporter herself."

"Why would they target Kara Danvers?" A reporter calls out.

"Until the hacker is identified, I don't think we'll be able to answer that," Cat points out.

"Was it professional jealousy? Did another reporter do this to get her fired?" Another reporter asks.

"Again, until we know who, we can't possibly know why," Cat quips, subtly reminding the reporter of reporting 101.

"How can you be positive that she didn't do this herself and just make it look like a hack?" a woman's voice asks from the back of the group.

A buzz of conversation and speculation takes hold of the group as they collectively process the suggestion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at the DEO, Kara blurts out, "That's her!" before spinning into her supersuit and taking off abruptly.

Alex taps her ear. "Hank, Lumos just asked that last question, get Ms Grant out of there," she informs him quickly. "Supergirl, take over protection duty. Hank will secure Ms Grant and assist the police with locating and detaining the subject."

Winn texts the same message to Maggie, who is in the crowd.

"I assure you that we are investigating this fully and there is nothing to indicate that Ms Danvers is behind the hack," Cat replies firmly.

On screen, Alex watches him lean over and whisper into Cat's ear after she answers the question. Cat looks over at her subordinates and gestures for them to take over as J'onn escorts her away from the podium.

Another buzz goes through the crowd when Cat leaves, "What's happening?" Someone asks loudly.

"Ms Grant is needed elsewhere, now are there any more questions?" Tom asks the crowd, he knows that if the bodyguard is pulling Cat off the stage then the target has been spotted.

"Where did Ms Grant go? This is her press conference," Another reporter points out.

Concern ripples through the crowd as police begin filtering through them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ms Grant is secure, let the police know that I'm coming to assist," J'onn says a moment later.

"I can see Lumos," Kara calls out over the coms link.

"Supergirl you're on protection duty," Alex responds, reminding her sister of the plan and hoping that she isn't going after Lumos. Nervously, she runs her hand through her hair. The meta already knows that Kara is Supergirl, it's too risky for Supergirl to be involved in taking her in.

"I'm not letting her get away," Kara replies firmly.

"Hank, stand by for back up plan K," Alex warns.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lumos smiles as she slips away behind a group of women speculating that Kara Danvers must be a head case to hack herself just to get her blog noticed.

Smugly, Lynai makes her way down the street, not realizing that she's being followed.

"Winn I need to see the street, get those traffic cams up," Alex grumbles to him as she paces the command center.

"There, it looks like Maggie has stopped her," Winn points to the third screen.

"Hey, you in the black hoodie. How do you know that Danvers faked the hack?" Maggie asks loudly, hoping the question will catch her off guard.

The girl stops walking and turns around. "Who's asking?" Lynai asks.

"NCPD, I need to ask you a few questions," Maggie answers hoping to buy some time until J'onn can get there to help contain the meta.

In the DEO Command Center, Alex, still watching the scene unfold, yells, "Where is Supergirl?"

"She's there," Winn remarks pointing at the Supergirl locator hovering overhead as they watch Maggie talking to Lumos on the screen. All of the sudden Maggie flashes her badge and Lumos takes off.

A moment later, Supergirl lands carefully with Lumos in her grip. Maggie moves in quickly with the special cuffs designed for metahumans as a small crowd gathers around them.

"Nothing to see here people, move along," Maggie shouts as she looks around for the patrol car that should have followed her pursuit.

Supergirl smiles at the crowd and spreads her arms out to her sides gesturing for the crowd to move back, the patrol car pulls up and the two officers take over with crowd control.

"You sure those will hold her?" Supergirl asks nodding at the handcuffs.

"Yeah, Winn tweaked them earlier," Maggie replies before trying to march the girl towards the police car.

Lynai struggles to take off again, but is surprised when she can't. "What have you done to me?" She blurts out angrily.

"Special cuffs that suppress your powers," Maggie informs her as she reaches out to open the door of the vehicle.

"Is she an alien? Why are you arresting her?" A voice from the crowd yells out.

"I am not at liberty to answer your questions, please move back and let us secure this area," Maggie yells out to the crowd.

"Supergirl, is this who you were looking for earlier today? Did you know that she could fly?" Another reporter calls out.

"Technically she wasn't flying," Supergirl can't resist pointing out. "And I have been working with NCPD to locate her today," she adds.

The metahuman notices that people are capturing everything on video, so she twists away from the detective just long enough to yell, "Supergirl is really Kara Danvers!"


	15. Chapter 15

In her office, Cat is watching the random coverage of the press conference. Something happened in the back of the crowd that caused Director Henshaw to rush her away from the podium and into her private elevator with gruff instructions to wait in her office for Supergirl. It has now been fifteen minutes and the hero has not arrived. Unsure if she should be worried or pissed, Cat clicks on her social media filter to see if #SUPERGIRL is out being 'super'. Immediately an array of videos posted to various social media outlets appear.

Cat begins watching one video after the other, each showing the same scene from different angles, the audio hard to hear due to the surrounding crowd. Detective Sawyer flashing her badge at a young woman, who launches herself upward. A moment later Supergirl appears with the same woman and sets her down while the detective handcuffs the woman and marches her over towards a waiting police car. But before she can get her inside it, the woman shouts out, "Supergirl is really Kara Danvers!"

Cat panics and checks headlines again. No one is reporting on Supergirl's secret identity being revealed, which doesn't make any sense. What else could have happened for everyone to ignore this story?

The media mogul sorts through more of the same videos. Finally, she finds one that is longer than the others. She clicks on it and although it begins at roughly the same point, it doesn't stop after the woman yells from the police car. Instead it cuts to a shot of Supergirl turning towards the crowd and laughing. Then a moment later, Kara Danvers is seen pushing through the crowd.

_"Detective, Kara Danvers with CATCO Magazine, can you me tell why you are arresting this woman?" Kara asks holding up her press badge._

_A hush goes over the crowd. "Wait, that's her, that's Kara Danvers!" A man shouts._

_"Ms Danvers, you'll need to contact the station for a statement," Maggie says as she pats the top of the patrol car and practically ignoring the reporter._

_"Supergirl, would you care to make a statement?" Kara asks turning towards the hero._

At this point the video captures both women in profile and Cat sits back in her chair to marvel at the sight. Then she watches it a few more times. She has no idea how the hell Kara and Supergirl can be there at the same time, but she has to admit that the stunt is effective. Side by side the two women somehow look nothing alike. Supergirl appears vibrant and larger than life, while Kara Danvers seems small and frumpy. Most people would never believe they are the same person.

Cat glances out at the empty balcony again. What the hell was Kara thinking? She was supposed to come here and let the police handle Lumos. And it's not that Cat is pleased that this Lynai Lumos is in NCPD custody, it's just that she almost got away from the police and what if she had gotten away. Did she know that Cat was up here in her office? Would the girl have tried again to get to her? Unable to sit still with all of these thoughts swirling in her brain, Cat heads over to the bar and pours herself a drink. She takes a long sip and tries to quell her fears. Kara was probably on her way here when she saw Lumos almost escape so she grabbed her and aided them in the arrest. The video clearly shows the girl taking off into the air, it's not like the police or even Hank Henshaw could fly after them, Cat reminds herself. She closes her eyes and takes another long sip, practically draining the glass. She sighs and is about to top off her glass, when she notices the reflection of Supergirl landing outside.

"The plan was for Hank to assist the police with Lumos and for you to come here and protect me," Cat remarks sharply, preferring to show anger than fear.

"Cat, she almost escaped. I couldn't let that happen and you were safe as long as I had her contained," Supergirl points out sincerely. She knows that Cat doesn't like to admit fear.

Cat just glares at her and takes another long sip of her drink as she leans against her desk.

"She revealed your secret identity, which is exactly why the plan was for you not to aid in her arrest," Cat argues.

"Yes, but we handled it," Supergirl replies."Look Cat I'm sorry that you were worried, but I am not sorry that I helped get her into NCPD custody. You are safe and now your life can return to normal," she adds with a smile.

"Hmpf," the media queen scoffs at the thought of her life being normal. "I suppose I should thank you for saving me yet again," Cat remarks feigning annoyance as she looks out over the people in the bullpen, glaring at the few who dare to look up.

The hero grins, she knows better than to fall for this charade. "Cat, I will always keep you safe," Supergirl replies brightly as she closes the distance between them.

Cat dodges the advancing hero, by slipping back around the desk. "Oh no you don't, the whole bullpen is watching us and Supergirl does not comfort me. Don't make me look weak in front of my staff," she whispers harshly, knowing that the hero can hear her clearly.

Supergirl deflates a bit and Cat immediately regrets the harshness of her words, but there is no fixing it now. Not when half of the bullpen is still watching them through the glass.

"Thank you for the update Supergirl," Cat says loudly in a softer but still dismissive tone.

"You are welcome," the hero responds loud enough for the bullpen to hear, but she doesn't turn around for them to see her face, instead she abruptly crosses the room in two long strides and takes off from the balcony.

Cat watches her and takes another sip of her glass. When the hero returns as Kara, Cat will explain herself more clearly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What are you doing here Danvers?" Snapper grumbles when he looks up to see the young reporter standing in his doorway.

"I thought that maybe I still worked here," Kara replies hopefully.

He sighs heavily before relenting. "Come in and shut the door," he directs her as he shuffles a few things around his desk.

Kara does as she's told and stands in front of the desk.

"You will be reinstated. IT confirmed that your accounts were hacked and they traced the IP address to the WiFi at Lumos' apartment complex," he informs her.

Kara just nods, she expected this after all.

"Thank you," she says finally.

"So what did you get out there, anything?" He asks softening a bit.

"Nothing really, I have a few quotes from witnesses, but the FBI and NCPD officers wouldn't answer my questions, oh and the NCPD spokesperson isn't releasing anything until tomorrow morning," Kara says sounding tired and a little defeated.

"Figures," Snapper mumbles under his breath and returns to the file open in front of him.

Disappointed Kara turns to leave the office.

"Danvers, I expect a first person account of this by the end of the week," Snapper bellows causing her to pause at the door.

"How long should it be?" She asks trying to suppress her excitement.

"Don't worry about length, just get it all down," Snapper replies gruffly. "It's a feature for the special edition we're putting out next week. We will edit it together on Monday."

"Thanks Chief," Kara replies barely hiding her smile.

"Yeah, yeah. Now get out of here and get to work," he grumbles and dismisses her with a wave of his pen before grabbing a new file and opening it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An hour later and Kara is holed up in her secret office writing away. She wants to get it all out while it is mostly fresh and the writing keeps her from thinking about what happened earlier with Cat.

"Where the hell have you been?" Cat asks flinging the door open and entering dramatically.

"H-here, why?" Kara stammers in surprise. "Is something wrong?"

"You haven't answered your phone or responded to any of my messages in over an hour," Cat replies relieved but annoyed and worried that Kara would think that she needs to avoid her.

"I'm writing. Snapper wants a first person account of everything for the special edition and he wants it by the end of the week," Kara explains.

Shocked that Kara would go see Snapper first, Cat tries to hide her disappointment. When Supergirl left, she expected that Kara would appear a few minutes later, then when she didn't Cat was afraid that Kara was upset with her.

"I'm sorry that I turned off my phone, but I needed to focus," Kara replies.

"Well, that is understandable. Commendable really," Cat admits as she takes off her glasses and taps the arm on her lip.

Kara stands up and moves around her desk. "Cat have I done something wrong?"

"Oh Kara," Cat replies softly. "Of course not, I was just worried that maybe I was a bit too harsh earlier and that you were upset," she explains.

"I-I understand. I know that you were scared when I didn't show up," Kara confesses and the words hang in the air between them.

Cat clears her throat and looks away, she would never admit it, but she was scared today when the hero didn't show up as planned.

"How exactly were you able to interview Supergirl today?" Cat asks instead, wanting to change the subject.

"It wasn't exactly me interviewing Supergirl, it was another agent," Kara explains carefully.

"Another agent? But she looked exactly like you," Cat challenges.

"Yeah, but I can't really explain it to you, it's classified. You know the government likes to protect it's assets," Kara replies.

Cat rolls her eyes and ignores her explanation. "How did they managed to do it on the spur of the moment? The plan was for you to be here with me, so how did they know to have her ready to go?" She asks persistently.

"Also classified," Kara answers apologetically, the frown on her face clearly showing her distress at not being able to answer honestly.

"So this person, or alien or whatever is able to step in and be you at a moment's notice? Can she only be Kara Danvers or can she also be Supergirl?" Cat questions and Kara frowns again. "I know, I know, that's classified too," she groans.

"I would tell you if I could," Kara offers.

"No, no I think that she can be either of you. Months ago, the first time I accused you of being Supergirl, you and I were in my office and Supergirl appeared briefly and then left. You stayed, so I know that you were definitely you, so this other agent would have been Supergirl. Then there was that very odd day that you didn't call or show up to work until after noon and you brought me a latte with whole milk in it, she was you that day," Cat remarks.

"Cat, I don't want to lie to you and I'm not good at it, so can we please stop talking about this," Kara pleads.

"I suppose," Cat acquiesces. She can appreciate that Kara doesn't want to lie to her.

They stand in silence a moment.

"Carter will be home tomorrow," Cat mentions nervously, changing the subject again.

Panic flits across Kara's face quickly but Cat notices it.

"Which is why we should have dinner tonight, it would give us a chance to discuss things," Cat continues.

"Yeah, okay," Kara replies slightly overwhelmed at the potential of that conversation. Now that the crisis is over and her son is returning, will Cat change her mind about everything? Anxiously, Kara walks around her desk and sits back down.

Caught off guard, Cat stares at her a moment. "Kara," she says softly, but the girl doesn't look up.

"I-I really need to finish this, I'll come by later," Kara remarks, then adjusts the glasses on her face and returns to writing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The door opens and closes. Alone again, Kara takes off her glasses and tosses them on the desk. She picks up her phone turns it back on and is immediately met with a cacophony of beeps and chimes. She sighs heavily and begins to scroll through her phone. Ignoring the ones from Cat, she listens to the voice mail from her sister.

"Where are you? You need to come in for debriefing." As usual Alex's message is succinct. The three text messages that followed are similarly brief and to the point.

"I'm working. I'll come by soon," Kara types the message and hopes that Alex won't push it.

"Are you okay?" Alex messages back.

"Yeah, I'll be there soon," Kara replies.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cat returns to her office and heads right out to the balcony, she's barely there a minute when Eve is at the door.

"Ms Grant, is there anything you need?" The girl asks the southern lilt to her voice almost unnoticeable.

The media mogul clears her throat before replying, "That will be all Eve and we're done for the day, you may go."

"It's not even four yet, Ms Grant," Eve remarks, still reeling from the CEO calling her by her first name.

"Yes, well we both have had a hell of a day," Cat admits turning around to give her assistant a tight smile. "Thank you," she adds.

"Have a good evening Ms Grant and thank you," Eve replies before turning to leave.

Cat turns back around and takes a deep breath. She saw the panic on Kara's face when she mentioned wanting to discuss their relationship. Is it possible that Kara doesn't want this to go any further? It's true that since she returned they have gotten closer and Kara did initiate the first kiss. But still, that doesn't mean that she wants an actual relationship.

All these months Cat has held back her feelings trying to protect Kara from them and now the tide has turned, she has so many feelings for Kara that she can't help but want to pull back to protect herself. If only she knew why Kara was holding back right now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You've been reinstated and assigned a feature story for a special edition?" Alex asks excitedly after J'onn leaves the debriefing room.

"Yeah, Snapper asked me to write a first person account of being hacked for a special edition of CATCO Magazine. He's writing an expose on the trend of news outlets gleaning stories from social media then from actual reporting." Kara explains.

"Well, that is great, but they're not going to use photos of you are they?" Alex asks worriedly.

"I don't think they'll do photos, but I can talk to Cat about it if they do," Kara replies and her sister can tell that something is on her mind.

"Hey, Maggie is still doing paperwork, you wanna grab some dinner?" Alex suggests reaching out and giving her hand a squeeze.

"I-I would, but Cat wants to talk tonight," Kara says and her sister can tell that she's worried about the conversation.

"Kara, what's going on? Why are you suddenly gun shy about talking with her?" Alex asks.

"W-we kissed last night," Kara blurts out. "I mean, I kissed her first, but then last night she kissed me."

"Kara, I know that you two are close, but Cat Grant is the CEO and owner of CATCO Worldwide Media, she is your boss," Alex argues incredulously.

"S-she's not my boss now and I'm sure that it was probably a one-time thing. The stress and adrenaline from everything" Kara stammers through the explanation.

"Are you sure about that? Cat Grant doesn't strike me as someone who acts without thinking things through. Kara, I know that you trust her with your identity, but are you sure that you can trust her with your heart?" Alex blurts out all at once.

Kara drops her head onto the conference table. "Alex, it's not like that, besides it doesn't even matter, I can tell that she has changed her mind about it. Cat Grant doesn't date people like me, especially not people like Kara Danvers, junior reporter."

"You're also Kara Zor-El and she would be lucky to date someone like you ," Alex points out quickly. "Now why do you think that she's changing her mind? The two of you have been growing closer since she returned to National City, have you even considered why?"

"I can't let myself think that way Alex. Carter, her son, he returns tomorrow. I-I think that she wasn't thinking about him when she kissed me and now, now that she is thinking about him, she's changing her mind about us," Kara answers.

"Or she could just want to know what you're thinking, because she is a mom and her son is part of the deal," Alex remarks.

"Why are you pushing for this? You've been warning me about getting close to her for weeks," Kara argues.

"I am still worried, but Kara you've been so happy these last few weeks and if she makes you happy, then I want it to work out. I'm still going to have a talk with her and she will need to sign a few hundred pages of NDM paperwork, but you deserve to be happy, so go talk with her. Maybe she will surprise you," Alex suggests hopefully.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cat is rinsing off dishes and loading the dishwasher when there is a knock at the door. Drying her hands quickly she goes to the door and opens it to find Kara standing before her with a small bouquet of flowers.

"Kara," Cat says opening the door wider. "These are lovely, but you didn't have to bring me flowers."

"When I'm worried about something, I have a special place that I like to fly to, it helps me to clear my head. Today when I went there, these flowers were growing all over the hillside and they were beautiful. They made me feel hopeful and happy, which is how you make me feel," Kara replies nervously shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "T-they looked better before..." she adds sheepishly noticing that the wind was not kind to them.

"They're beautiful, but I should get them in water," Cat says before turning around to head into the kitchen.

Kara follows her and notices that the vases are on the highest shelf, so she steps up behind her. "Let me," she says resting a hand on Cat's shoulder before reaching over her and pulling one down.

"Thank you," Cat replies with a soft smile taking the vase and moving over to the sink to fill it with water.

"Dinner smells wonderful," Kara remarks glancing around surprised that there are no take out boxes.

"I hope that you like it, I haven't cooked in months," Cat admits.

"You cooked?" Kara blurts out.

"Yes, I don't always have time. But I made time today, because I wanted tonight to be special," Cat confides as she turns around to face the younger woman.

"I don't understand," Kara replies earning a smirk from Cat.

"You don't understand why I wanted tonight to be special?" She clarifies.

"Earlier in your office, it seemed like you were pushing me away," Kara explains.

"Kara, I wasn't pushing you away, I was pushing Supergirl away," Cat replies hoping that she understands the distinction.

Kara looks confused, "But I am Supergirl," she reminds her.

"Yes, but we can't have Supergirl bursting into my office and sweeping me up in her arms, it would not look right especially when people find out that we are involved," Cat explains softly.

"Are we involved?" Kara questions carefully, because she knows that she is, but she wasn't sure that Cat was.

"Kara, what did you think was going on?" Cat questions arching her brow curiously as she turns to look at the girl carefully.

"Back up. So today when you were pushing me, I mean Supergirl, away, it was because you didn't want people to get the wrong idea about you and Supergirl, because you and I are involved?" Kara clarifies.

Cat nods. "Yes, but only if that is what you want."

Kara nods and exhales dramatically. "Wow," she finally exclaims.

Cat smiles again and shakes her head. "Kara, Carter comes home tomorrow and I don't want to hide this from him, unless you are uncomfortable with him knowing."

"You want to tell Carter?" Kara questions, as she runs a hand through her hair.

"Yes, you have to admit, he would figure it out rather quickly the first time you came over. What did you think I wanted to talk to you about?" Cat questions.

Kara walks around the kitchen and stands on the opposite side of the island. "I thought since he was coming back, you were going to tell me that this wouldn't work actually," she admits.

"Oh Kara, no. It's true that I've been fighting my feelings for you for a long time, but I never would have kissed you if I wasn't ready for us to take the next step," Cat confesses.

"H-how long have you had feelings for me?" Kara asks.

"Since you wrote that letter to Adam, no one has ever cared enough about me to do anything like that," Cat replies.

"Why did you push me to go out with Adam if you had feelings for me?" Kara questions.

"Because I saw how he looked at you and it was easier for me to push the two of you together than to face my own feelings for you," Cat confides. "And you went along with it so easily, I just assumed that was what you wanted as well."

"He was so great, but I realized that I was going out with him to make you happy," Kara informs her. "Which is why I was so upset when the two of you didn't get along. It occurred to me later that I was probably a bit more invested in that than I should have been as your assistant."

"That also occurred to me, but I was afraid to trust that it was about anything other than you being a wonderfully generous and loving person, I even convinced myself that you extended that to me because you were afraid to lose your job." Cat explains.

"I haven't taken many of your threats to fire me seriously since the first year, by then I was pretty sure that you wouldn't fire me because I had reorganized everything and no one else knew my system," Kara points out with a smile.

Cat smiles at her. "It is a phenomenal system, the transition to Eve was unbelievably smooth," she admits with a laugh.

They take a moment to smile at each other and finally Kara reaches across the island and takes Cat's hands into her own.

"This will be really complicated, you know that my life is not as simple as it seems," Kara points out.

"I left National City convinced that we wouldn't work, because my life was too complicated and I convinced myself that you deserved better. But Kara I followed your stories and I could tell that you were coming in to your own as a reporter. I was so proud of you and then Snapper even began sending me advance copies of your articles, which meant that he was proud of your progress. When James resigned, I thought that maybe it was a sign, so I called you and asked you to dinner, because I needed to try to get a sense of what you thought of me. And you seemed to be willing to spend time with me, even going so far as to open up to me. I selfishly encouraged it and then when you kissed me I realized that this wasn't one-sided," Cat explains walking around the island to face her.

"But you didn't kiss me back," Kara reminds her.

Cat places her hands on Kara's hips and pulls her closer.

"You could always try it again and see what happens," Cat challenges her playfully.

Kara smiles and takes off her glasses before leaning in and pressing their lips together.

Cat hums into the kiss, which makes Kara laugh. Cat feels her lips open slightly and takes the opportunity to bite Kara's lower lip. Kara gasps in surprise, but recovers quickly and spins Cat around so her back is against the island. Wrapping her arms around the smaller woman, she pulls her in and deepens the kiss. Cat moans in response and Kara pulls back.

"Wow," she says sheepishly, a hand going to her lips.

"Indeed," Cat replies. "Are you okay?" She teases.

"So, so okay," Kara answers. "I didn't know that it could feel like that," she admits.

"Well, if you do it right, it should always feel like that," Cat answers playfully.

"Hmm, maybe we should try it again then, for science," Kara jokes as she ducks her head again to capture Cat's lips in another kiss. Her hands roaming over the other woman's body as she pulls her even closer.

"My god," Cat exclaims breathlessly a moment later. "K-Kara are you sure that this is what you want?"

Kara nods, not trusting her voice. Instead she leans in and begins kissing a trail from Cat's ear down to her collar.

"Kara, stop," Cat says breathlessly.

The taller blonde stops and steps back, "I-I'm sorry, too much?" She asks.

"Too soon, w-we haven't even had a proper date," Cat reminds her.

"I think we both know that we've had several dates now," Kara argues playfully.

"Don't you want to go out, like normal people?" Cat queries.

"We're not normal people," Kara answers. "And I don't think you want me to do this in public," she adds pulling the media queen in for another searing kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _A/N: Just a short note to thank everyone for reading this story and commenting and sending me messages. I hope that you enjoyed it. It went quite a bit longer than I had intended when I began._
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> _I am excited and worried about the finale, it's like they saved up to do this huge big thing, but as we've seen they usually fall short on what they hype, (Ahem, musical episode)._
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> _I am planning to go on a ff hiatus for a few weeks, as I am working on an original piece, but then you know how I am, the finale could motivate me to write another fix-it. Self-preservation makes it tempting not to watch it, (like I've done with Grey's), but I am certain that my curiosity will prevail and I'll be live tweeting with the rest of you._
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> _Thank you again for supporting my writing, you are amazing!_


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